The UAW Education Department is proud to support the UNITE HERE Education and Support Fund (501c3) and Talking Dolls Studio to pilot the Union Hall Arts Residency this summer in Detroit, MI. This four-week artist residency program will bring together 4-6 union members from various unions to hone their artistic skills and unleash their creative expression to make art for our movement.
Chedrick Greene has won the race for Michigan’s 35th State Senate District, delivering a major victory for working families and strengthening pro-worker power in the Michigan Legislature.
Union members across the region mobilized in the final weeks of the campaign, with volunteers gathering at UAW Local 699 to knock doors and speak directly with fellow union members about the importance of electing someone who understands working-class issues because they’ve lived them.
“This victory shows what happens when working-class people organize and show up,” said Steve Dawes, UAW Region 1D Director. “Union members talked to their neighbors, their coworkers, and their communities because they know Chedrick Greene will be on the side of working people in Lansing. The working class sent one of our own to the State Senate.”
Greene’s victory is expected to reinforce labor-backed priorities in the Legislature, including protecting union jobs, expanding economic opportunity, and defending collective bargaining rights.
Supporters said the result sends a clear message that the working class is a decisive force in Michigan politics.
The United Auto Workers announced today that UAW members at CNH Industrial’s Racine facility have reached a tentative agreement with the company on a new five-year contract covering approximately 300 members.
The Racine plant manufactures Case IH Magnum high-horsepower tractors and plays a critical role in agricultural equipment production in the United States.
“This tentative agreement reflects the strength and solidarity of our members in Racine,” said UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, Ag/Imp Department Director. “Workers stood together to win meaningful wage increases, improvements in health and safety protections, stronger retirement benefits, and commitments that help secure the future of this plant and the jobs it supports.”
In addition to stronger job security language, the tentative agreement includes major economic gains for both production and skilled trades workers, including 22% general wage increases for production employees and 29% general wage increases for skilled trades employees over the life of the five-year agreement. The deal also includes significant health and safety language improvements, healthcare enhancements, and improvements to retirement benefits.
The tentative agreement will now be presented to the membership for review and ratification voting.
Today, as working-class people take part in May Day actions around the world, UAW Local 2093 members at American Axle, or Dauch Corporation, announced plans to hold a strike authorization vote starting May 11. Results will be counted on May 12, with the chance for workers to walk out of the Three Rivers plant starting May 31 when the current contract expires.
“UAW Local 2093 members at American Axle have been loyal to their company for decades and during these negotiations we are here for our fair share.” said UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes. “This company is making billions every year – these workers are ready to do whatever it takes to win a record contract that’s long past due.”
Influenced by the success of the UAW’s 2023 Big Three strike at Ford, GM, and Stellantis, American Axle workers are ready to make up for nearly two decades of lost wages and benefits. UAW Local 2093 members laid out their demands in a video released earlier in March, which include: no concessions, fairer wages and profit sharing, better health care, stronger retirement, and job security.
“American Axle is a mainstay in this community, and we’re fighting to make it better by making our lives better,” said Jay Korf, a UAW Local 2093 member at American Axle. “We’re not asking to break the bank; we’re demanding our fair share after all our sacrifices and years spent building this company back up.”
In 2008, workers at American Axle took major sacrifices to save the facility from closure during the Great Recession. Many long-time workers who were making as much as $29 an hour in 2008 saw their wages slashed to $14.50. Today, eighteen years later, workers are still yet to make up all that lost ground, with wages at American Axle currently topping out at $22 an hour after a five-year progression, with inflation-adjusted wages cut in half from their pre-2008 levels.
Meanwhile, in the last decade, as a Tier 1 parts supplier to General Motors, American Axle has generated $8.4 billion in profits. Over that time, the company’s CEO has been paid $111 million, with the top five executives receiving nearly $231 million in compensation – while UAW members working at the Three Rivers plant struggle to afford basic needs, with some even forced to sleep in their cars.
Over 800 workers for Woodward MPC in Niles, Illinois, will take a strike authorization vote after the company has illegally refused to bargain for months, signaling a potential work stoppage at a key producer of defense and aerospace equipment in the Chicagoland area.
“I’ve got a message for the company: Woodward, the clock is running out,” said UAW President Shawn Fain, rallying today with Woodward MPC workers. “We will be holding a strike authorization vote. Woodward has a choice to make: This company can either negotiate a fair contract for the workers who make this place run. Or the workers will shut shit down, with the full backing of the UAW International Union.”
“We’ve got a company that has been given billions in taxpayer dollars through federal contracts and state subsidies, while the workers who pay the taxes can’t get a damn raise,” said UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell. “Is that justice? Hell no. What we are asking for at Woodward is really simple. When you make billions off of your workers, pay them what they’re worth. Let them have basic time off. Make the progression fair, and get back to the negotiating table.”
“Woodward is offering our members a thirteen cent raise at a time when the company is making record profits,” said Jose Tapia, Woodward worker and President of UAW Local 5101. “That is what they offered, and then they refused to bargain. So, before this company decided to break the law and walk away from the table altogether, they told us what they think of us. Because they think they can offer us nothing. Break the law. And we’ll take it. We are here to show them exactly how wrong they are.”
Woodward workers voted to affiliate with the UAW last fall. Since then, the company has committed over three dozen unfair labor practices, including total refusal to negotiate with the union. Workers are fighting for industry-leading wages, fair progression, time off, and job security.
Woodward has made over $1.7 billion in profits since 2020, and has paid its CEO over $30 million in that timeframe, while workers struggle to make ends meet. The over 800 workers are members of UAW Local 5101.
The number of administration positions earning $100,000 or more in salary at Lorain County has tripled since 2021, according to recently released Lorain County Auditor data. As reported by the County Auditor payroll data released this year, the number of administrative positions at Lorain County earning over six-figures spiked from 55 in 2021 to 174 in 2025 – with the $20.3 million spent on these six-figure payrolls representing nearly a quarter of the County’s entire $89 million operating budget last year alone.
The added positions at these high payouts – which do not figure in health care coverage, pension contributions, or paid time off accruals – are surging as County Commissioners slash public services, claiming an $11 million budget deficit, and refuse to bargain with workers on strike at Job and Family Services over a $1 per hour supplemental wage increase aimed at addressing a severe retention and service crisis. Meanwhile, as these administrative payrolls ballooned, County Commissioners have directed $67 million in County capital funds to a controversial “Megasite” economic development project.
“The County Commissioners have blown up the budget on six-figure administrative salaries but won’t resolve a strike with the frontline workers who actually deliver services,” said UAW Local 2192 Chairperson Gina Jones, a case worker on strike at JFS. “We know we have the community on our side in our outrage at the County’s mismanaged priorities and refusal to settle for $1 per hour.”
The cost to settle the JFS strike, a $1 per hour supplemental wage increase that Commissioners have refused to negotiate, would total approximately $299,520 annually. That figure represents less than 1.5% of what the County spent on six-figure administrative salaries in 2025. The growth in administrative wages between 2024 and 2025 alone – approximately $2.6 million – is nearly nine times the cost of settling the JFS strike.
All salary figures are drawn from Lorain County Auditor payroll data released in 2026. Figures reflect base payments only and do not include benefits.
The 2026 UAW Health and Safety Conference has been postponed.
“This is a difficult choice, and we know it will result in a lot of disappointment. We have determined that an abundance of caution must guide how we proceed to ensure the safety of our delegates and staff.
“We appreciate your patience and will provide updates as soon as possible. At this time, please work with your local union on any union leave questions. Please be advised that Black Lake staff are currently working to cancel all flights that were booked using the TSI link.”
Read the full letter from the UAW Health and Safety Dept. below more full details.
Today, as Lorain County Job and Family Services workers remain on strike going over two months, County Commissioners voted to accept a new contract agreement with members of the same UAW Local – UAW Local 2192 at Lorain County Children Services (LCCS) – in a deal that surpasses the Commissioners’ standard “pattern.”
“This is a victory that demonstrates what workers can achieve when they stand strong at the bargaining table,” said UAW Region 2B Director David Green. “Unfortunately, their siblings at Job and Family Services can’t get a fair deal. County Commissioners like Jeff Riddell are refusing to even come to the table and bargain in good faith with UAW Local 2192 members at JFS.”
On April 20, UAW Local 2192 members at LCCS who investigate reports of child abuse, neglect, and dependency to ensure the safety and well-being of Lorain County’s most vulnerable children, voted to ratify the three-year deal, which runs retroactive to January 1, 2026.
County Commissioners attempted to force a “pattern” regarding the General Wage Increases (GWI), which would have held raises to a predetermined 4.5%/3.5%/4% over the course of the contract. But with the County having shifted healthcare costs onto the workers amid historic inflation, UAW Local 2192 members held strong to secure GWI of 4.5%/5.5%/2% — a better deal that puts more money in workers’ pockets now when they need it most.
“When we stand strong, we negotiate from a position of strength,” added Director Green. “When we hold the line, we win.”
In addition to having wage increases front-loaded in the course of the contract, workers secured other gains such as an extra personal day off. To help offset the hazards that caseworkers face using personal vehicles in the field, the new contract includes $400 more in health and safety auto costs. And, in recognition of the dedication and institutional knowledge of long-tenured employees, support staff with ten or more years will receive another 2% retention supplement.
UAW Local 2192 members at JFS will continue to hold the line until the County decides to come back to the table to negotiate a fair deal as they did for their counterparts at Children Services.
Local 551 is one of the most historic units in the UAW. The local’s roots go all the way back to the very beginning of the union in 1935, and over 5,000 of its members work at the iconic Ford Chicago Assembly plant, the automaker’s oldest operating manufacturing facility.
So, it would probably surprise many people to learn that the plant’s nursing staff has never been unionized. Yet, that was the case until April of this year, when the six nurses at Chicago Assembly withstood a vigorous anti-union campaign from the company and voted to join the UAW.
The organizing win is a testament to the determination of the nursing staff, who had attempted to unionize in two previous efforts that came up just short in recent years, and the unwavering support of Local 551, the UAW Ford Department, and Region 4.
“Every worker deserves to have a union,” UAW Vice President and Director of the Ford Department Laura Dickerson said about the union’s support of the nurses in their fight. “Every worker deserves to have the support they need to form their union if that’s what they choose to do. Our decision to get behind these six workers really came down to that belief.”
Mary Quasney, an associate nurse at the plant, said she felt they needed more say in how their workplace operated, citing concerns about chronic understaffing and the company’s lack of training opportunities as reasons for the organizing drive.
“We felt like management didn’t want to make any type of financial investment in us that would allow us to increase our skills and our knowledge,” Quasney said. “We felt like we were understaffed, and that can have negative effects on the work we do. We truly care about the workers in this plant, and we want to provide the best care possible for them when they come to us.”
Ford plant management was adamantly opposed to the nurses’ efforts from the get-go and ran an aggressive intimidation campaign to dissuade them from organizing. The company held multiple one-on-one meetings with nurses and distributed anti-union flyers filled with misleading information.
UAW representatives made sure to hold multiple meetings of their own with nurses to counter the company’s false messaging and were readily available 24/7 to answer any questions nurses may have about what joining the union would entail.
Throughout the organizing drive, Local 551 leaders and members working at the plant continuously showed their support for the nurses, stopping by the medical department to offer positive words of encouragement, recording a solidarity video, and delivering support cards with messages urging nurses to keep fighting.
“The support from the workers was amazing,” Quasney said. “They truly had our backs the entire time. I think it made us want to be a part of the union even more.”
On April 9, nurses voted 5-1 to join the UAW.
“I’ve been a member of this local for over 30 years, and during that entire time, the nurses here have never been unionized,” Local 551 President Chris Pena said. “So, to see them finally win a seat at the table, everyone at the local is incredibly proud of them for demanding a voice.”
“Some people might be asking, ‘Why so much effort for only six workers?’” Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell said. “But for us, it didn’t matter whether it was six workers or 600. Those nurses deserve the same support as anyone else. Our union was committed to making sure that was the case at Chicago Assembly.”
Now that the nurses are UAW, they will soon elect a bargaining chairperson and then begin negotiations with the company on a first-ever contract. For Quasney, finally having a voice on the job is just one of the many benefits of joining Local 551.
“We’re all just very excited to be joining the UAW,” Quasney said. “Local 551 does so much great work in the community and holds a number of events for its members every year, and now we get to be part of that. We’re very happy.”
We have been busy preparing an incredible week of content for over 225 registered delegates to our upcoming Member Mobilization Institute at Black Lake!
Unfortunately, you may be aware that Northern Michigan is currently experiencing severe weather resulting in flooding throughout many areas, including the Black Lake region.
While our Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center remains operational, we are experiencing flooding in portions of the grounds in the lower areas closest to the lake.
We have been closely monitoring the situation throughout the week and have hoped that we would be able to proceed with our conference. The Center staff have been working tirelessly to accommodate us. Unfortunately, unpredictable factors beyond our control remain, and a nearby dam in Cheboygan, Michigan remains strained. As of today, we cannot confidently predict whether conditions will hold steady, improve, or worsen over the coming days.
Due to these unfortunate circumstances, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to postpone our Member Mobilization Institute.
This is a difficult choice, and we know it will result in a lot of disappointment. But, under the advice of our UAW Health and Safety Department and others, we have determined that an abundance of caution must guide how we proceed to ensure the safety of our delegates and staff.
We appreciate your patience and will provide updates as soon as possible. At this time, please work with your local union on any union leave questions. Please be advised that Black Lake staff are currently working to cancel all flights that were booked using the provided TSI link. You may contact us at education@uaw.net if you need any further assistance.
Our hope is that this is a postponement and not a cancellation. We will follow up soon with more information.
Please keep our union family and the entire community in Northern Michigan in your thoughts during this extremely difficult time.
For more information and updates visit the Education page.
New Detroit Arts Residency to Elevate Labor Artists
Working-Class Voters Send One of Their Own to Lansing with Chedrick Greene Victory in Michigan’s 35th Senate District
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