Julian Electric Workers File for Union Election to Join UAW, Will Hold Mass Meeting Saturday in Chicago

WHAT:     Press Conference and One-on-one Availability after Mass Meeting
WHEN:     Saturday, Aug. 24, Noon
WHERE:   UAW Local 551, 13550 S Torrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60633

Workers at a parts plant near Chicago have just filed for a union election and are holding a mass meeting on Saturday at a union hall on Chicago’s Southeast Side. A supermajority of the 350 workers at Julian Electric, Inc., in Lockport, Ill., have signed union authorization cards saying they want to form a union with the UAW.

Julian Electric, which supplies parts to Ford, Navistar and other Fortune 500 manufacturers, has already started running an aggressive anti-union campaign against its largely immigrant workforce.

“We are fighting together for respect,” said Gabriela Morales, a worker at Julian Electric. “We do the work here and we deserve a voice. By winning our union we will make ourselves heard!”

On Thursday at 10 a.m., a delegation of workers delivered a letter to Julian Electric’s human resources office asking the company to voluntarily recognize their union. Later that day, the workers also filed a request for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board so they can promptly move forward with a vote if Julian Electric refuses their request.

The Julian Electric workers will hold their mass meeting on Saturday at UAW Local 551 in Chicago. The UAW members of Local 551 work at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, and the Ford Explorers they make use parts from Julian Electric.

“We are all autoworkers,” said Gilbert Foust, a Ford worker and organizer with Local 551. “Julian Electric workers deserve more money and more respect, and the members of Local 551 are going to do everything we can to make sure they win their union and their fair share.”

“We are human beings, not machines, and it’s time Julian Electric treated us that way,” said Aimee Piña, a union supporter at Julian Electric recently fired by the company. “I was fired for supporting a coworker who was fired unfairly. If we speak up about the heat in the plant—it is so hot some people faint—or the lack of respect, we are fired. We have to have our union, or we will never be heard.”