Tag Archive for: Donald Trump

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Sign the Petition: Save Conn-Selmer Eastlake!

After Conn-Selmer formally announced its decision to offshore 150 good union jobs to China at a long-time legacy Ohio company, workers are rallying community support to save the Eastlake plant from closure tentatively scheduled for June 30.

In January, on what was supposed to be day one of the latest contract negotiations between Conn-Selmer and UAW Local 2359 members, the last USA-made brass instrument brand, informed workers that it is shutting down its Ohio facility and offshoring almost all its Eastlake operations overseas to China.

This comes one year after Conn-Selmer owner John Paulson – billionaire and close adviser to President Trump – engaged in a media campaign in support of tariffs specifically to bring factory work back to the USA from China. All the while, his company was secretly building an offshoring facility in China.

Decades of an Ohio mainstay and hundreds of good, union jobs suddenly became on the chopping block because billionaire hedge fund owner John Paulson decided to lead with corporate greed over preserving an American institution – and American manufacturing.

Conn-Selmer informed UAW Local 2359 members that its “doomsday” would tentatively be June 30, 2026 – but workers are fighting back to save the Eastlake plant.

ADD YOUR NAME to send a message to The White House: President Trump can intervene and make good on his commitment to stop American companies from shipping jobs to China. This is an opportunity for the administration to stand with American workers.

SIGN ON HERE: uaw.us/SaveConnSelmer

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Statement on Ford Plant Visit from VP Laura Dickerson, Ford Department Director

The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union —the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.
 
The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member.
 
Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.
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After Members Took Action, UAW Celebrates Tariffs on Heavy Trucks

In a major win for UAW members who build heavy trucks at Mack, Daimler, Navistar, Volvo, and more, the Trump administration has announced a 25 percent tariff on imported heavy trucks, after a massive grassroots lobbying campaign by UAW members and leaders.

“For decades, heavy truck makers have rushed to kill good blue-collar jobs from Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Gastonia, North Carolina, in order to pay poverty wages abroad while Wall Street makes a killing. That ends November 1st,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Our members lobbied and mobilized to save these communities, and made their voices heard in Washington, DC. We have pushed for action like this for decades, and we congratulate President Trump for delivering for heavy truck workers everywhere. Let’s keep going and rewrite our broken trade rules.”

A new video, Made In The Valley, tells the story of UAW Local 677 in the Lehigh Valley—how the USMCA gutted the communities that built the American heavy truck industry, and how workers fought back to save their jobs and community.

“Mack, Daimler, Navistar, Volvo — we built these companies,” said Dave Durgin, President of the UAW Bus, Engine, and Truck Council. “These executives have tried to run away from us and our families just to pay somebody $3-4 an hour to build six-figure trucks, and pocket the profits. We aren’t asking for the world. We’re saying if you want to sell your trucks in the U.S., you need to make your trucks in the U.S., at a good union wage like we’ve won at the UAW. We’re glad to see action being taken to support domestic manufacturing and good union jobs.”

The victory in the heavy truck industry is the latest blow to the so-called “free trade” system that has devastated blue collar America, from NAFTA to the USMCA. In 2026, the entire USMCA is up for review, and the UAW is pushing for a trade deal that puts the working class first.

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UAW Statement on U.S. Trade Agreement with Japan

The UAW is deeply angered by the Trump administration’s announced trade deal with Japan. What we’ve seen so far makes one thing clear: American workers are once again being left behind.

For decades, Japanese automakers have exploited open access to the U.S. market while failing to do right by American workers. Now, instead of addressing the problem, this deal gives them another break—at the expense of the very companies and workers that built the American auto industry into the global standard for good jobs and world-class products.

The UAW has pushed for well-crafted tariffs as a tool to level the playing field, bring back good jobs, and drive investment in American manufacturing. We know tariffs can work—but the execution here falls far short. Shifting timelines and moving goalposts have undermined business confidence and delayed investment. So far, only GM has stepped up with serious reshoring efforts.

Rather than building on that momentum—rewarding companies investing in union jobs—this deal hands a win to transnational automakers that rely on low-road labor practices: substandard wages, excessive temps, and union-busting.

Now, those same companies stand to benefit from lower tariffs, while unionized automakers—who could quickly create tens of thousands of good jobs using existing capacity—are left with fewer incentives to do so. Once again, American workers are being forced to suffer the consequences.

A better deal would have held Japanese automakers to the same standards U.S. workers have fought for at GM, Ford, and Stellantis: living wages, quality health care, secure retirements, job stability, and the freedom to form unions without intimidation.

If this becomes the blueprint for trade with Europe or South Korea, it will be a major missed opportunity. After decades of failed trade policy, American workers don’t need another deal that pushes them down for demanding a better life.

We need trade deals that raise standards—not reward the race to the bottom. This deal does the opposite.

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At 37 Actions Across the US, Tens of Thousands Rally to Stop Cuts to Federal Research, Health and Education

Detroit, MI — Thousands of people across the country came together yesterday for Kill the Cuts, a national Day of Action to raise awareness and fight back against the Trump administration’s devastating attacks on research, health, and higher education. The events (see the full list here) were sponsored by a coalition of education, labor and health advocates, including UAW, SEIU, AFSCME, UE, NEA, AFT, CWA, AAUP, HELU, Labor for Higher Education, the Debt Collective, and more.

Researchers and educators who have had their funding cut spoke about the effects this assault on publicly-funded research is having at their institutions and across the country. Below is a collection of remarks and associated photography:

 

“NIH is the bedrock of American health,” said Haley Chatelaine, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health and member of UAW 2750, which represents 5,000 workers there. “I’ve spoken with patients whose lives depended on the groundbreaking research we do. Any delay–whether it’s due to pauses in grant funding or firings of federal workers–puts Americans’ health at risk. That’s why we, the workers who do the research, are standing up to protect it.” (Photos here, credit UAW)

“By cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care, the Trump administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars,” said Rafael Jaime, president of UAW 4811, which represents 48,000 workers at the University of California. “These cuts are dangerous to our health, and dangerous to our economy.” (Photos here, credit UAW)

“Federal research funding is critical to my research into how neurons in our brains communicate, making it possible to develop better therapeutics for severe health conditions that range from cancer to depression to learning disorders,” said Dagan Marx, a Postdoc at Weill Cornell Medicine and member of the Weill Cornell Medicine Postdocs United-UAW Bargaining Committee. “Recklessly slashing funding that institutions like Weill Cornell depend on for medical breakthroughs and supporting researchers has devastating impacts on our research and our working conditions.” (Photos here, credit New York City Central Labor Council)

“I’m proud to be researching ways to better detect ovarian cancer after losing my mom to the disease two years ago. There are still no routine screening tests for ovarian cancer, which would save lives. Without funding from the NIH, breakthroughs won’t happen and that’s a tremendous loss for research and the general public,” said Mari Hoffman, an Academic Student Employee in Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Washington and member of UAW 4121. (Photos here, credit UAW)

 

President Trump has recently issued Executive Orders attacking the NIH, NSF, while dismantling the Department of Education. These attacks jeopardize medical and scientific progress and threaten the jobs of researchers across the country studying critical topics including climate change, renewable energy, cancer, viral pandemics, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. Not only do these attacks impede lifesaving care for millions of Americans, but delays in treatment are projected to cost the public billions of dollars.

More information about the National Day of Action and a list of rally locations can be found at www.killthecuts.org.

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UAW Statement on Job Cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The UAW adamantly opposes the Trump administration’s recent decision to terminate nearly 900 workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

For decades, NIOSH has conducted vital research and offered important recommendations to help prevent work-related injury and illness. The agency provides workers with guidance and support on numerous important issues, including chemical hazards, workplace violence, first responder and firefighter safety protocols, preventable workplace fatalities, and many more.

The NIOSH’s work is absolutely critical in advancing rules that protect workers on the job so that they can return home safely every day. The nearly 900 workers the Trump administration is attempting to terminate play an invaluable role in making that possible.

This attack on NIOSH workers will have far-reaching negative consequences for workers in this country and beyond, and we demand they be reinstated.

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Statement from UAW President Shawn Fain on Attacks on Federal Workers

Yesterday, President Trump signed an order that tramples on the union rights of more than a million federal workers, stripping them of their ability to negotiate over their working conditions. The 1 million members of the UAW stand with federal workers and their union, AFGE, against the attacks from the Trump administration.

When I was 12, the Reagan administration famously busted the air traffic controllers’ union, PATCO, firing over 11,000 striking controllers and blacklisting them from federal jobs. It wasn’t just about PATCO – it sent a message to employers everywhere that it was open season on the working class. The labor movement failed to act in that moment, and we have been paying the price ever since.

The actions the administration has taken today are many times worse than PATCO, affecting over 1 million federal employees across at least 18 agencies. These actions are not just an attack on unions—it’s an attack on free speech, on workers’ right to organize, on the very idea that people should have a say in their own jobs and futures. Our own members are affected by these actions, including hundreds of UAW members at National Institutes of Health.

We have learned from the past and won’t sit back quietly while unions are dismantled. The labor movement is not about party politics. We aren’t Democrats or Republicans. We’re trade unionists.  And when you come after workers, you’re going to find us standing shoulder to shoulder, ready to fight back.

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Statement from UAW President Shawn Fain Condemning Attacks on Higher Education

The UAW represents 100,000 higher education workers, including campus staff, student workers, faculty, research assistants, and postdoctoral fellows, at Columbia University and beyond. 

Drawing on our long tradition of protest, support for international peace, and commitment to education for all, the UAW condemns in the fullest terms recent actions taken by the Trump administration to cut federal research funding; to detain, intimidate, and deport students; and to attack our members’ First Amendment rights. 

As we stated under the previous Presidential administration, “The UAW will never support the mass arrest or intimidation of those exercising their right to protest, strike, or speak out against injustice.”  

The Trump administration’s decisions will impact critical research, academic work, and the livelihoods of all campus workers including thousands of UAW members, and are unacceptable.

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UAW Statement on New Tariff Action

For 40 years, we’ve seen the devastating effects of so-called “free trade” on the working class. Corporations have been driving a non-stop race to the bottom by killing good blue-collar jobs in America to go exploit some poor worker in another country by paying poverty wages. Tariffs are a powerful tool in the toolbox for undoing the injustice of anti-worker trade deals. We are glad to see an American president take aggressive action on ending the free trade disaster that has dropped like a bomb on the working class.

There’s been a lot of talk of these tariffs “disrupting” the economy. But if corporate America chooses to price-gouge the American consumer or attack the American worker because they don’t want to pay their fair share, corporate America bears the blame for that decision. The working class suffered all the pain of NAFTA, and we won’t suffer all the pain of undoing NAFTA. We want to see corporate America, from the auto industry and beyond, recommit to the working class that makes the products and generates the profits that keep this country running.

The UAW is in active negotiations with the Trump Administration about their plans to end the free trade disaster. We look forward to working with the White House to shape the auto tariffs in April to benefit the working class. We want to see serious action that will incentivize companies to change their behavior, reinvest in America, and stop cheating the American worker, the American consumer, and the American taxpayer.

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UAW Statement on the NLRB Member Firings

President Trump’s firing of Jennifer Abruzzo and illegal firing of Gwynne Wilcox is a bad start to a Presidential administration that says it wants to stand with the American worker. The so-called “radical” policies that Abruzzo and Wilcox pursued under the National Labor Relations Act weren’t radical at all. They stood for the principle of democracy in the workplace, giving working class Americans a fair shot at standing up on the job for fair pay, healthcare, retirement, and work-life balance through a union contract.

Aside from dismissing Abruzzo, the most pro-worker NLRB general counsel in our lifetime, and illegally terminating Wilcox, a highly qualified, competent Board member who advocated for workplace rights, the Trump Administration’s actions now spike hundreds of cases before the Board, deferring or denying justice for thousands of UAW members. This move has real world consequences that harm the working class and harm UAW members everywhere.

At Mercedes, Toyota, Blue Oval SK (a Ford & SK joint venture), Webasto, Julian Electric, and more, workers have filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against their employers to hold them accountable for illegal union-busting actions taken by management. Those cases are now at risk.

From Stellantis to Columbia University, UAW members have open NLRB cases against employers who have refused to bargain in good faith. Those cases are now at risk.

We have an open Unfair Labor Practice charge at Mack Truck for their violating our UAW contract and shipping good blue-collar American jobs to exploit workers in Mexico, a goal that the Trump Administration says they champion. That case is now at risk.

These moves don’t just weaken the NLRB, a federal agency. They also weaken the working class. When workers lose their ability to seek justice when employers break the law, it means more delay on fair pay, fairness on the job, and a fair contract for tens of thousands of workers. It means fewer rights for the working class and greater impunity for corporate criminality. It means more money for the billionaires, and less for the working class. Trump says he wants to help working class America and bring jobs back with his tariffs, but without a strong NLRB, those same jobs are at risk. These moves are a stain on President Trump’s agenda for the working class.

We call on President Trump to immediately reinstate Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board and appoint a General Counsel who will hold true to the text of the National Labor Relations Act by “encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self- organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.”

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