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The UAW’s bargaining team has reached a tentative agreement with Caterpillar Inc. before the contract expiration. Members at four locals in Illinois and Pennsylvania will review the tentative agreement and vote at upcoming ratification meetings. No details will be publicly released, and we will have no further statement until after those meetings.
UAW President Ray Curry discusses PRO Act with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY)
The UAW applauds Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Chairman Bernie Sanders, Leader Jeffries, Ranking Member Bobby Scott, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, and all original co-sponsors in the re-introduction of the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act today.
We wholeheartedly agree with President Biden’s statement on the PRO Act during his recent state of the union address: “I’m so sick and tired of companies breaking the law by preventing workers from organizing. Pass the PRO Act because workers have a right to form a union. And let’s guarantee all workers a living wage.” This vital bipartisan legislation would strengthen workers’ right to collectively bargain for higher wages, better benefits, a safer workplace and a more secure retirement. The UAW calls on Congress to pass the Richard L. Trumka PRO Act so that President Biden can sign it into law.
Popularity for unions is higher than it’s been in recent memory. According to a recent Gallup poll, 71 percent of Americans say they approve of labor unions. In 2022, more than 60 million workers wanted to join a union but could not. Despite growing support for unions and an uptick in union election petitions across the country, union density has declined over last several decades as anti-worker corporations have gone to great lengths to suppress workers’ rights to form a union. According to the Economic Policy Institute, employers spend nearly $340 million dollars a year to hire union busting firms to help them stop workers from organizing,
For too long, employers have been able to violate the law with little consequence, routinely denying working people their basic right to join with co-workers and have a voice in the workplace. Time and time again, workers have fought for a union only to be met with coercion, retaliation, and intimidation by employers seeking to prevent workers from exercising their fundamental rights such as illegally firing workers, holding captive audience meetings, and threatening to close plants. The PRO Act would address these and other impediments. UAW urges Congress to pass the Richard L. Trumka PRO Act and send it to President Biden’s desk for signature.
Last December, Stellantis NV announced its decision to idle the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois on February 28, 2023, by refusing to put a new product into the award-winning plant.
“UAW Local 1268 members at Belvidere have proudly built vehicles for Chrysler, then FCA and now Stellantis since 1965. They have delivered quality and productivity for the corporation for generations,” says UAW President Ray Curry. “Stellantis’ ill-advised decision will have negative repercussions throughout the region and supplier network. It will disrupt lives, uproot families, and leave communities struggling to find economic drivers to pay for schools, roads and other services.”
“It is notable that while Stellantis abandons this community after being part of it for almost sixty years, the corporation has benefitted from numerous and generous subsidies, federal loans, grants and tax abatements – all paid for by U.S. taxpayers,” adds UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell. “The cruelty of its decision was heightened last week when the company disclosed that CEO Carlos Tavares received a staggering compensation package of $24.8 million for 2022, despite the company’s shareholders questioning the excessive compensation given to Tavares in 2021. All of this done by a global company which looks to the U.S. market for 48% of its revenue.”
Stellantis’ decision to idle the Belvidere Assembly Plant will not stand.
“We have immediately addressed the concerns of the 2300 affected employees by negotiating with the company on retirement packages, voluntary termination, as well as pre-retirement leaves to allow employees to grow into their retirement. We are also working with interested members on the relocation process,” notes UAW Vice President and Director of the National Stellantis Department Rich Boyer. “While the power of collective bargaining softens the blow for UAW Local 1268 members who work for Stellantis, we know that the options are much more limited for the supplier network which includes UAW members as well as the community at large. This economic dislocation is a choice made by Stellantis to reap even higher profits. We will highlight their corporate greed to workers, community, taxpayers, and consumers.”
The UAW will continue to demand that Stellantis put a product in the Belvidere Assembly Plant. This pattern of starving facilities of a product creates uncertainty for UAW members and raises questions about Stellantis’ commitment to the U.S.
UAW workers deserve better. U.S. taxpayers who subsidize Stellantis deserve better. And U.S. consumers deserve better.
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Detroit – Our union was successful in negotiating an enhanced profit-sharing formula with Stellantis in 2019. The new formula more accurately reflects the contributions of UAW members to the success of Stellantis. Today’s announcement that eligible UAW-Stellantis members will receive a record average profit-sharing amount of $14,760 confirms that the skill, dedication, and hard work of UAW members are a critical part of the success of Mopar, Chrysler, Jeep, RAM, Wagoneer and Dodge.
The financial strength of Stellantis primarily relies on the company’s UAW workforce as evidenced by its financial report. Our members are the backbone of this company. We will continue to call on Stellantis to show our members the respect that is due to them by demanding that they provide a safe working environment to all employees and job security by investing in America.
While we recognize that this profit sharing amount is rightly deserved, we also know that there is much work to be done. Our members at Belvidere (Local 1268) contributed to this profit sharing, yet the company has idled their plant. That decision will not stand, and we will fight to reverse it with UAW members, the Belvidere community, the state of Illinois, taxpayers, consumers and all who stand against corporate greed.
Today, the UAW International Executive Board unanimously approved increasing strike pay from $400 to $500 per week. This increase reflects the effects of continuing inflation as well as the need for our union to prepare for an important bargaining year affecting multiple sectors and employers.
“This increase will immediately help members who are on strike,” says UAW President Ray Curry. “Increasing the strike pay gives notice to employers that we have high expectations as we head into bargaining, and that the UAW is united in fighting for economic justice for all members.”
Successful vote is latest victory in growing grad worker union movement
Los Angeles, CA – By a 93% margin, graduate workers at the University of Southern California have voted 1,599 to 122 in favor of joining the Graduate Student Workers Organizing Committee-United Auto Workers (GSWOC-UAW), according to ballots tallied today by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The victory caps a multi-year effort, with workers standing strong against USC administrators’ anti-union campaign. GSWOC-UAW will represent 3,000 Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants and Assistant Lecturers at USC.
“We are so energized by this resounding vote in favor of our union,” said Stepp Mayes, a Graduate Student Worker in Civil and Environmental Engineering. “The support for our union keeps growing stronger, and we will be bringing this solidarity and energy to the bargaining table. We are confident that our union will be good for us and good for USC, and we look forward to meeting them at the table soon to bargain a contract that makes us all stronger.”
“The status quo has not been serving Graduate Student Workers, and we are thrilled to have won our union and an equal voice in determining our working conditions,” said Maggie Davis, a Graduate Student Worker in Sociology. “Our next step will be to democratically prioritize the changes we plan to bargain for, so we can tackle issues like inadequate pay and health care, a lack of protections against abusive conduct, and insufficient support for international students.”
Over the past two years, more than 20,000 academic workers in California alone have unionized with UAW. UAW now represents nearly 100,000 higher ed academic workers across the country – and more Academic Student Employees than any other union.
“I want to congratulate USC’s student workers on their incredible hard work, and welcome them to the UAW,” said Mike Miller, Director of UAW Region 6. “Like their 7,000 colleagues in the LA-area who have already joined the UAW, they are part of a movement of higher ed workers who are coming together to improve academia. We look forward to working together as they bargain a contract.”
“The UAW is so proud to support these brave workers at USC, and thousands of other academic workers across the country, as they fight for the right to self-determination,” said UAW International President Ray Curry. “Issues like low pay, job insecurity, harassment and discrimination aren’t going away on their own. USC’s workers are building a strong framework for changing how higher ed works for the better. And we are proud to stand with them.”
In just this past year, Research Scientists and Engineers at the University of Washington voted 85% in favor of unionizing with UAW, Mt. Sinai Postdoctoral Researchers voted 89.5% in favor of unionizing with UAW, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute Grad Employees voted 96% in favor of unionizing with UAW.
Learn more about GSWOC-UAW online at www.gswoc-usc.org.
New York, NY — HarperCollins Union members have ratified their tentative agreement after a three-month strike against HarperCollins Publishers, a subsidiary of News Corp. Members will be returning to work on February 21.
“We are very proud of this agreement. Our members fought tooth and nail for every letter of it and the result goes beyond the many improvements we’ve won in this contract,” says Olga Brudastova, President of UAW Local 2110. “I am confident this will lead to a long-lasting change in work culture at HarperCollins and perhaps in publishing at large. There are more than two options now: stick it out or leave. There is now a third option of collective action and standing up together for what is right.”
“What members of the HarperCollins union in Local 2110 achieved will rewrite industry standards and inspire other workers in the publishing industry to stand up to employers,” adds UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla. “Our region stood with the strikers from day one and we celebrate their victory with them.”
HarperCollins employees have had a union for more than 80 years and it is one of the earliest unions of “white collar” workers in the country. Currently, HarperCollins is the only major book publisher in the U.S. to be unionized, though book publishers in other countries have unions. The labor action saw support across the publishing industry and beyond, from authors, agents, booksellers, freelancers, and other publishing employees.
Local 2110 HarperCollins members have been working without a contract since April of 2022. HarperCollins Union Local 2110 represents 250+ employees in editorial, sales, publicity, design, legal, and marketing departments. The full agreement can be found here.
Local 2110 UAW also represents workers at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Columbia University, Film Forum, Teachers College, ACLU, Center for Reproductive Rights, The New Press, and many more. The union has a reputation for aggressive organizing and bargaining and progressive politics.
Today, Ford Motor Company announced that they would be building a new LFP (lithium iron phosphate) battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, which will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.
“Ford got it right by building this plant right here in Michigan,” says UAW President Ray Curry. “We supported the public investment into this facility as we know it will create good paying union jobs that will benefit the community and maintain strong wage and benefit standards in the auto industry.”
“This facility furthers Ford’s commitment to our members who make EV vehicles. Our members in Local 600 who produce the F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, will install the LFP batteries in the Lightning starting next year,” says UAW Vice President and Director of the National Ford Department Chuck Browning. He adds: “Because of the foresight of collective bargaining, the UAW will be able to organize this new facility using a card check to prove majority interest.”
“This facility will create jobs for 2,500 workers starting in 2026,” adds UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes. “We look forward to working with the new workforce to organize the plant.”
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