,

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.

,

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.

,

In a Victory for Autoworkers, Auto Tariffs Mark the Beginning of the End of NAFTA and the “Free Trade” Disaster

This afternoon, the Trump administration announced major tariffs on passenger cars and trucks entering the U.S. market, marking the beginning of the end of a thirty-plus year “free trade” disaster. This is a long-overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class and driven a race to the bottom across borders in the auto industry. It signals a return to policies that prioritize the workers who build this country—rather than the greed of ruthless corporations.

“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades. Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “But ending the race to the bottom also means securing union rights for autoworkers everywhere with a strong National Labor Relations Board, a decent retirement with Social Security benefits protected, healthcare for all workers including through Medicare and Medicaid, and dignity on and off the job. The UAW and the working class in general couldn’t care less about party politics; working people expect leaders to work together to deliver results. The UAW has been clear: we will work with any politician, regardless of party, who is willing to reverse decades of working-class people going backwards in the most profitable times in our nation’s history. These tariffs are a major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities across the country, and it is now on the automakers, from the Big Three to Volkswagen and beyond, to bring back good union jobs to the U.S.”

BRINGING BACK THOUSANDS OF GOOD, UNION AUTO JOBS

With these tariffs, thousands of good-paying blue collar auto jobs could be brought back to working-class communities across the United States within a matter of months, simply by adding additional shifts or lines in a number of underutilized auto plants. Right now, thousands of autoworkers are laid off at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis following recent decisions by auto executives to ship jobs to Mexico.

Across a dozen Big Three auto plants that have seen major declines, production has fallen by 2 million units per year in the past decade, while millions of vehicles sold here are made with low-wage, high-exploitation labor abroad. That means auto companies that have made record profits get to drive wages down further for both Mexican and U.S. workers while Wall Street and the corporate class get record payouts.

Those plants include Ford Flat Rock Assembly (Flat Rock, MI), Ford Louisville Assembly (Louisville, KY), Ford Ohio Assembly (Sheffield, OH), Ford Michigan Assembly (Wayne, MI), GM Fairfax (Kansas City, KS), GM Lansing Grand River (Lansing, MI), GM Factory Zero (Detroit & Hamtramck, MI), GM Spring Hill (Spring Hill, TN), Stellantis Warren Truck Assembly (Warren, MI), Stellantis Toledo Assembly (Toledo, OH), Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly (Sterling Heights, MI), Stellantis Jefferson North Assembly (Detroit, MI). The same pattern can be seen in the heavy truck industry, whether at Freightliner in North Carolina, Navistar in Ohio, or dozens of other employers across the economy.

The economic benefits of filling these plants back up with product and good auto jobs would be enormous and have a cascading effect throughout communities from Michigan to Tennessee.

At Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the company recently violated labor law by unilaterally announcing the elimination of a shift during first contract negotiations. Volkswagen makes 75% of their North America product in Mexico for $7 an hour, and over 40% of their U.S. sales are produced by workers earning poverty wages in Mexico. That shift should be restored immediately as production shifts back to the US.

At Warren Truck Assembly Plant in Warren, Michigan, for example, over 1,000 autoworkers are laid off while the plant sits underutilized and $100,000 Stellantis trucks are built in Mexico for $3 an hour. These layoffs were announced less than six months ago and could be undone. Those jobs could be brought back to Michigan immediately with well-designed auto tariffs.

In addition to idle capacity at existing plants, there are plants that stand empty and with moderate retooling could easily employ tens of thousands of workers. Lordstown Assembly sits empty in Lordstown, Ohio, and employed nearly 10,000 autoworkers when NAFTA was passed. Belvidere Assembly is slated to reopen with around 1,500 jobs; as recently as 2019, the plant employed 5,000 autoworkers.

The Big Three have closed or spun off 65 facilities in the past 20 years. There is plenty of work to go around at profitable margins, and plenty of working-class people looking for good, union jobs. With a serious tariff regime, we can incentivize the Big Three and the rest of the auto industry to reinvest in the American autoworker, and America’s blue-collar communities.

WHAT THE WORKING CLASS NEEDS ON TRADE

Every time an autoworker dares to ask for fair pay, a decent retirement, healthcare, or work-life balance, the automakers threaten their job by exploiting a broken trade system that is set up to intimidate and threaten workers on both sides of the border.

The UAW has encouraged the Trump administration to take clear, aggressive action to bring back good, union auto jobs. We are heartened by the significant measures they have announced today, and we urge the administration to take similar action to protect and reshore the heavy truck sector. Beyond tariffs, a continued, dramatic shift in our country’s trade agreements and economic policies will be necessary to end the free trade disaster.

The next step is to immediately begin renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has only perpetuated NAFTA’s harmful effects by increasing the trade deficit with Mexico and allowing automakers to offshore U.S. jobs and drive a race to the bottom.

In a new trade deal, autoworkers have some simple demands:

  • A significant number of cars that are sold in the U.S. should be made in the U.S., with strong wages and good working conditions like those that generations of UAW autoworkers have fought and died for.
  • Companies must not be allowed to close factories and ship jobs to high-exploitation, low-wage countries, and to pad already-massive profits by driving a race to the bottom among autoworkers. This includes a North American minimum wage to significantly raise pay and benefits for Mexican autoworkers, along with stronger protections for labor rights and penalties for offshoring, so that workers are no longer forced to compete with one another over crumbs while the automakers walk away with a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.
  • Fix the auto parts supply chain, following the same principles: fair wages and benefits for all, and an increase in American-made parts for American-assembled and American-sold vehicles.

We can fix our broken trade deals to benefit workers. But we must be consistent, send clear signals to the auto industry, and make sure that working-class people – who have paid the price for so-called “free trade” for 30 years – don’t pay the price for this transition back to high-road manufacturing jobs.

As they shift their supply chains and investments to the US, auto companies that have enjoyed years of record profits should absorb the cost of these tariffs rather than passing them on to consumers, and the UAW would support legislative or regulatory action requiring them to do so. Workers must be held harmless during any disruption that accompanies the reshoring process, with financial support from the federal government if necessary.

And finally, the working class can’t wait. The auto companies have been given time to plan, and now it’s time to act.

,

Volkswagen Chattanooga Workers Slammed with Crippling Health Care Costs—One in Three Struggles to Afford Auto Giant’s Subpar Insurance

Chattanooga, TN – Days after Volkswagen, the #2 automaker in the world, announced making $20.6 billion in profit in 2024, a new UAW survey of VW workers in Chattanooga reveals the devastating financial toll of VW’s substandard U.S. health care offerings.

A new comprehensive survey of nearly 1,800 Volkswagen’s Chattanooga workers paints a stark picture of a workforce burdened by inferior health care benefits and skyrocketing out-of-pocket expenses that not only lag industry standards, but have also contributed to widespread financial hardship, debt, and, in many cases, a decision to forgo necessary medical care altogether.

Nearly three out of four (73%) Volkswagen Chattanooga workers reported either being forced to choose between paying for medical care and other essential expenditures like rent and food or having borrowed money or declared bankruptcy to cover medical expenses; a rate that rises to four out of every five parents and caregivers with children on a VW health insurance plan.

The full report is available HERE. The 2025 health care survey of VW Chattanooga workers paints a dire picture of the real-world impact of the company’s substandard plans. Key findings include:

  • 67% reported being forced to choose between paying for medical care and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities, and food.
  • 58% admitted to borrowing money—via credit cards, loans, 401(k) withdrawals, or from family and friends—or filing for bankruptcy due to medical expenses.
  • 57% currently have outstanding medical debt, including accounts in collections and wage garnishments.
  • 18% of survey respondents rely on publicly-funded TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program, to insure their children – allowing VW to shift their responsibility to employees on to TN taxpayers.
  • 29% have faced financial hardship specifically due to medical bills from a workplace injury.
  • 20% have been forced to take on a second job simply to pay for their medical bills.

In addition to completing the survey, hundreds of VW workers surveyed shared personal stories about being forced to skip urgently necessary medical care and the extreme financial strain they’ve experienced due to VW’s lower standards.

  • One VW worker in the Battery Department shared that: “My wife is disabled so I am the only one working. She goes to the doctor when she needs to, but I have dental work that I have needed for almost 2 years and have not done due to the expense.”
  • A VW assembly worker reported: “I have had to forgo medical care due to the costs even though I pay for insurance, and I pay over a hundred dollars a month for my prescription.”
  • Another VW assembly worker said: “I went to the ER due to an illness last year—I couldn’t breathe. Bill was way too expensive, and I received 3 to 4 total. It hurt my finances tremendously as I had to figure out how to pay for my other bills that have gone up due to inflation.”
  • “At my last job I had better health care where I only had to pay $25 to see my primary doctor versus now it costs me $75 a visit until I hit my deductible,” said another VW worker. “Then two years ago I had a health scare where I had to go see a hematologist and when I got the bill I had to pay $500 out of pocket because I did not meet my deductible yet – versus at my last job, when I had to see a specialist, it only cost me a dime, and I was working for a much smaller company than Volkswagen.”
  • One VW worker said, “I’ve worked other jobs to make sure I can get my medical bills paid, but not now. Now I barely get my deductible paid and I don’t get to use my insurance because it’s time to start a new year, so I’m paying the deductible every year for my doctors’ visits and paying my monthly insurance for insurance I don’t get to use because of the deductible I have to reach before my insurance will cover anything. I have to have something major come up and pay it off before my insurance starts to cover my bills. It’s ridiculous and not right. I’m used to just paying a co-pay and everything else is covered, but when I started at Volkswagen all that changed and I started paying a lot out of my pocket. Yea I make more money here, but when you add in what I pay in for medical, I make less than I did at my last jobs.”

“Volkswagen should be ashamed that the U.S. workers who have helped build their massive profits are being forced to choose between putting food on the table and having health insurance,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “VW is the #2 automaker in the world, but they aren’t meeting the union auto standards in America – even of smaller and less profitable employers in the same state.  Although VW espouses respect for worker rights, they have egregiously violated federal U.S. labor law with an illegal shift reduction attempt in Chattanooga, where they should be ramping production up, not cutting it down. The CEO of VW got $11 million last year, and their shareholders got billions; now, American workers are demanding the fair standards and excellent health coverage we deserve.”

Volkswagen’s U.S. workforce faces lower health care and workplace safety standards compared to the benefits provided to employees in other countries, effectively creating a second tier of workers in the American South. Survey data reveals that VW’s health plan is so costly and inadequate that more than one in ten workers opt out entirely, with some stating they simply cannot afford it. Many employees also noted that Volkswagen lags behind its competitors in providing quality health care, despite the company’s substantial profits.

“Volkswagen workers should not have to start a GoFundMe in order to pay their medical bills,” said Amanda Muellemann, an assembly worker who could not afford a necessary surgery and had to go to extreme lengths to pay for her care.

In 2024, Volkswagen reported $20.6 billion in profits, bringing their four-year profit total to $92.4 billion — a 38% increase. Despite this, the 4,000 workers who build its vehicles in Chattanooga are still waiting for a fair contract that brings them up to par with industry standards – and are using the fight for the first-ever union contract at a foreign car manufacturer in America as an opportunity to force VW to reinvest in their U.S. workforce.

,

“NAFTA Sucks”: In New Video, UAW President Shawn Fain Calls for an End to Broken Trade Deals

DETROIT, MI – In a new video, UAW President Shawn Fain shares his experience as a young electrician in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1992 and how trade policy won his vote in that presidential election.

The new video, “NAFTA Sucks,” is available here, and the media is invited to use the footage.

The lesson for working class politics today is clear: working people need an alternative to the free trade disaster that has wrecked blue collar communities across the country and driven a continental race to the bottom that has hurt American and Mexican autoworkers alike.

The UAW has called for a renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which has not stopped the bleeding of good auto jobs from Michigan to Tennessee and beyond. The Trump Administration’s expected auto tariffs could be a step in the right direction towards ending the free trade disaster inaugurated by NAFTA thirty-three years ago.

Full transcript available below.

NAFTA SUCKS

SHAWN FAIN: In 1992, I was a 22 year old apprentice electrician in Kokomo, Indiana watching the Presidential Debate between George Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot.

During that debate, one candidate won my vote immediately.

They were talking about NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement — which Congress had yet to approve.

ROSS PEROT: “We have got to stop sending jobs overseas. You move your factory south of the border, pay a dollar an hour for your labor, have no healthcare – that’s the most expensive single element of making a car – have no environmental controls, no pollution controls, and no retirement, and you don’t care about anything but making money. There will be a giant sucking sound going south.”

My decision was made in that moment.

I saw the threat in my community. If corporations were allowed to kill good blue collar jobs in the Midwest to pay poverty wages to some poor Mexican worker, they were gonna do it.

And workers on both sides of the border would end up paying the price.

That’s why I voted for Ross Perot.

Let’s look at what has happened since NAFTA passed.

Over 90,000 manufacturing facilities have disappeared in the United States, wrecking communities, ripping families apart, and leaving workers on unemployment or struggling to survive on low-wage jobs.

Every plant closure is a bomb dropped in working class communities.

You can literally see the blast zones in Kokomo, Flint, St Louis, and beyond.

The Big Three automakers alone have closed 65 facilities in the past 22 years.

I would love to say today that things have changed, but as we’re talking right now, more work is being shipped out of the country, and more jobs are being lost or are in jeopardy of being lost.

Stellantis has laid off thousands of workers at Warren Truck while the trucks they use to build are being made in Mexico.

John Deere, Mack Trucks, and many other companies are relocating work to Mexico right now, all in an effort to drive a race to the bottom.

Economists and talking heads want to say that tariffs are bad for the economy.

You know what’s bad for the economy?

Letting corporations ship jobs to other countries where workers make $3 an hour so the company can sell a truck for $100,000 and pocket the savings.

While American workers and Mexican workers scrape to get by.

Tell the workers who used to work at Lordstown, Ohio that our trade system is working.

Tell it to workers at Romeo Engine.

Or Baltimore Transmission.

Or Cleveland Casting.

Or Twin Cities Assembly.

Or Oklahoma City Assembly.

Janesville Assembly.

Wilmington Assembly.

Fredericksburg Powertrain.

Or St. Louis Assembly.

The list goes on and on.

There isn’t a state in this country that hasn’t been devastated by the free trade disaster of the last thirty three years.

The status quo is killing us.

Some economists are trying to scare anyone, saying that the cost of tariffs will be passed on to working Americans.

But the cost of NAFTA was passed on to working Americans in the form of plant closures, deaths of despair, and economic devastation.

We feel its effects every day.

Free trade isn’t free. It’s a disaster. And it’s time to end it.

The experts said NAFTA would help the working class.

They were wrong.

Ross Perot was right.

NAFTA sucks and it’s time to fix our broken trade laws.

,

UAW Local 291 Members at Cummins Walk Out on Strike in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

OSHKOSH, WI – Yesterday, more than 90 members of UAW Local 291 who proudly make essential components for military and heavy construction equipment at Cummins Inc. in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, walked out on strike after the company failed to offer a fair contract agreement that respects workers and their families.

“Despite the UAW Local 291 Bargaining Team’s continued efforts, Cummins management has refused to offer a contract that addresses our members’ priorities: fair wages, affordable health care, and job security,” said UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell. “Cummins is holding our members’ economic proposals hostage by their continued refusal to bargain, while demanding harmful concessions. That’s not bargaining in good faith.”

Last week, the UAW-Cummins Bargaining Committee demanded that management stop playing games with workers’ futures. Cummins refuses to move on wages unless the union agrees to damaging proposals, including:

• Harmful language expanding the use of temporary workers
• Changes to inventory procedures that undermine job security
• Increases to an already excessive number of mandatory Saturday shifts

“We’re not creating tiers at Cummins – period. They need to back off their temp worker proposals,” said UAW Local 291 President Ryan Compton. “This company is making billions in profits while many of our members struggle to make ends meet. We won’t stand for it.”

Despite earning over $13 billion in profits over the past three years, Cummins continues to stall contract negotiations with UAW Local 291. First, management delayed bargaining until the day before the contract expired. Now, they are claiming they can’t meet again with union negotiators until April 21.

“It’s unacceptable,” added Campbell. “Our members are the ones building the industry-leading drivetrain systems that power this company’s success. They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.”

In late February, Local 291 members held a practice picket in Oshkosh, preparing for this moment. Now, they are walking the picket line, ready to fight for a contract that restores the losses they’ve suffered and delivers real economic justice.

Like many other UAW members who have stood up to unfettered corporate greed, the sentiment on the picket line is that workers are fed up with being left behind. They know what they’re worth and their willing to fight to get what they deserve.

,

In Shocking Move, Columbia University Fires Union President One Day Before Contract Negotiations Begin, in Further Crackdown on Free Speech

New York, NY – In the latest assault on First Amendment rights, Columbia University has expelled and fired Grant Miner, President of UAW Local 2710, which represents thousands of Columbia student workers. The firing comes one day before contract negotiations were set to open with the University.

The shocking move is part of a wave of crackdowns on free speech against students and workers who have spoken out and protested for peace and against the war on Gaza. As the UAW has emphasized, the assault on First Amendment rights being jointly committed by the federal government and Columbia University are an attack on all workers who dare to protest, speak out, or exercise their freedom of association under the US Constitution.

It is no accident that this comes days after the federal government froze Columbia’s funding, and threatened to pull funding from 60 other universities across the country. It is no accident that this firing has occurred the day before contract negotiations begin. It is no accident that the University is targeting a union leader whose local went on strike in the last round of bargaining. It is no accident that this is happening at Columbia University, where student workers won back the right to collective bargaining in 2016.

Trade unionists everywhere, defenders of the Constitution, of freedom of speech, of academic freedom, and of the right of free association, should be appalled and disgusted by the behavior of Columbia University, and should take it for the clear signal it is. If they can come for graduate workers, if they can arrest, deport, expel, or imprison union leaders and activists for their protected political speech, then they can come for you. For your contract. For your paycheck. For your family. And for your rights.

UAW Local 2710 is mobilizing a response, and calls on all allies of the working class and Americans of good conscience to speak out and stand up against this gross injustice.

,

UAW Files Federal Labor Charges Against Volkswagen for Violating Workers’ Rights in Chattanooga

Chattanooga — The UAW has filed federal labor charges against Volkswagen for violating U.S. labor law at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant. The company is attempting to cut jobs and make major changes without first negotiating with the union, as required by law.

In a statement, UAW President Shawn Fain said:

“Nearly a year ago, thousands of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga voted to join the UAW, to win the respect and dignified life that union autoworkers at the Big Three have enjoyed for generations.

Since then, the company has failed to meet the basic standard at the bargaining table that 150,000 American autoworkers have won at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

Volkswagen is the second most profitable automaker in the world. On Tuesday, the company reported over $20 billion in profits in 2024. And on Wednesday, they announced their intention to cut a shift at their single American plant, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

This is a company that makes 75% of their North American products in Mexico, paying highly exploited workers around $7 an hour to sell cars for tens of thousands of dollars in the US. They do this to avoid paying a living wage and drive a race to the bottom in the auto industry. It’s bad for workers everywhere.

And instead of coming to a fair agreement for their American autoworkers in Tennessee, Volkswagen is choosing to attack American auto jobs.

The UAW has notified the Trump Administration of Volkswagen’s unacceptable, anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-American conduct. It is no accident that they want to ram through a layoff in America in the days before expected auto tariffs take effect, as they profit from high exploitation labor in Mexico.

The 4,000 autoworkers in Chattanooga deserve better. America deserves better. And the UAW is going to fight like hell to deliver for Chattanooga, for Volkswagen autoworkers, and for the whole working class.”

This latest charge highlights a continuing trend of union-busting tactics by Volkswagen aimed at silencing American workers. The UAW is committed to holding the company accountable and protecting workers’ rights on the job.

,

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.

, ,

Collateral Damage: Mack Trucks Workers Speak Out Against Broken Trade Laws That Kill Jobs for Corporate Profit




Allentown, PA – In a new video, members of UAW Local 677, who build Mack Trucks in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, speak out against broken trade deals that are threatening thousands of good blue-collar jobs. The video highlights the deep frustration and disappointment felt by workers who have dedicated their careers to producing quality trucks in the Lehigh Valley, while the company pursues plans to offshore jobs to a new low-wage, high-exploitation facility in Mexico.

“We’re collateral damage, basically, to someone’s stroke of a pen. And it’s scary to think that that happens in this world today. It really does make you reevaluate what you mean to your employer. Or what you don’t mean to your employer,” says Nicole DeFuso, a skilled trades apprentice at Mack.

To view the full video, click here.

In 2023, Mack Truck workers went on strike to win a new agreement at the iconic truck maker. During those negotiations, the company falsely represented plans to further invest in Pennsylvania. Instead, the company has broken ground to build a facility in Monterrey, Mexico, where workers are likely to make less than $4 an hour.

The UAW has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board over the company’s bad faith bargaining. Mack’s decision to build a plant in Mexico—rather than keeping production in the United States—is the direct result of disastrous trade policies such as NAFTA and its successor, the USMCA.

These policies, backed by both major political parties, have paved the way for corporations to chase lower wages and weaker labor protections, leaving American workers behind. The move threatens good-paying union jobs, undermines the region’s economic stability, and represents what workers have called “a slap in the face” after years of dedication and commitment.

“The products are being sold for the same amount if not more. But that’s all going into the pockets of the corporations,” says Michael Shupp, a Local 677 member at Mack.

The newly released video provides firsthand accounts from UAW Local 677 members, who express their concerns about job security, economic uncertainty, and the erosion of domestic manufacturing. It calls out the bipartisan failure to protect American workers from these trade policies, which have fueled a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions, allowing corporations like Mack to exploit cheaper labor abroad at the expense of U.S. jobs.

The UAW has been vocal in demanding the immediate renegotiation of the USMCA, recognizing that for 40 years, so-called “free trade” has devastated the working class. Corporations have driven a relentless race to the bottom, killing good blue-collar jobs in America while exploiting workers in other countries with poverty wages. The union has also encouraged the use of tariffs as a tool in the fight to undo the injustice of anti-worker trade deals.

“I remember when I was a kid, my dad would talk about NAFTA. Now you read up on this stuff and you see how much destruction that certain things can have,” says DeFuso.

“We need to have laws that are going to support us and not have to be worried about potentially losing our jobs,” says Dan Hand, a Committeeperson with Local 677.

The union has expressed that if corporate America chooses to jack up prices on the working class or throw their own workers under the bus just to avoid paying their fair share, they should pay a penalty. The working class took the full hit when NAFTA hollowed out manufacturing towns like those in the Lehigh Valley, and they shouldn’t bear the brunt of undoing it, too.

The UAW is actively engaged in negotiations with the Trump Administration regarding its plans to end the free trade disaster. The union is looking to negotiate the terms of the upcoming auto tariffs in April in a way that benefits the working class. The union is demanding serious action to incentivize companies to change their behavior, reinvest in America, and stop cheating the American worker, the American consumer, and the American taxpayer.

 

Full text of video here:

The policies that reflect trade have not been on the worker side for many years.

And here we are.

Having them breaking ground in Monterrey, Mexico, for a Mack facility.

Collateral damage basically to someone’s stroke of a pen. And it’s scary to think that that happens in this world today.

When the company is looking at where they can go, they’re going to find the cheapest place possible. And in 1994, GM was moving to Mexico because they could pay their employees $0.48 an hour. Mack is currently moving to Mexico because they can pay their employees $3 to $4 an hour.

Really does make you reevaluate.

Wait, what you mean to your employer, or what you don’t mean to your employer?

Now, with this information, as far as with the Mexico plant, this is the first time that myself, in over 26 years, and I’m actually concerned about the longevity of the plant.

I remember when I was a kid, my dad would talk about NAFTA, and he was so mad about it. And I was just like, I don’t know what that is.

But now you read up on this stuff and you see how much destruction that certain things can have.

We need to have laws that are going to support us and not have to be worried about potentially losing our jobs.

The products are being sold for the same amount, if not more. But that’s all going into the pockets of the corporations.

Like, this is our life. This is our livelihood.

There’s a lot of question marks as far as where we’re going to be in the future.

You know, the work is important to us.

Maybe they had this in the back of their mind the whole time, that they would just move this plant and save the money on wages, going to a foreign country where they’re going to pay them pennies on the dollar to do the same labor that we do.

They’re building a bigger divide between the haves and have-nots.

The income down in Mexico is very low compared to what it is here.

They need to support their families as well.

You want to feel like your livelihood matters.

It will definitely affect work here in the Lehigh Valley.

I have 25 years in the place. You know, I planned on retiring from there.

Who wants to see us go?

Nobody, really.

When it comes to manufacturing, those are good jobs that we need to fight for.

UAW Logo

UAW SOLIDARITY HOUSE

8000 East Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48214

(313) 926-5000

Union Plus Logo

Connect

Organize

Latest News

Important Update for UAW Stellantis Members from Director Kevin Gotinsky

UAW Releases New Video on Andrew Cuomo’s Failures for Working-Class New Yorkers

People's Voice Winner Award
Webby Award Logo