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UAW Marks 90th Anniversary with New Video Highlighting Legacy of Struggle and Victory

Detroit, MI – This year, the United Auto Workers (UAW) celebrates its 90th anniversary. Founded in 1935, the UAW has been at the forefront of the labor movement, winning historic gains for working people and standing at the center of major struggles for civil rights, social justice, and economic fairness.

To mark the occasion, the union has released a new video highlighting the UAW’s nine decades of bold action—from the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936 to the Stand Up Strike of 2023 and beyond. The video lifts up the UAW’s proud tradition of fighting for fair wages, strong benefits, dignity on the job, and broader social and political change that has improved the lives of all working-class Americans.

“Our members have always understood that our fight is bigger than any one contract or workplace,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “For 90 years, the UAW has taken on billionaires and corporate power, and we’ve raised the standards for the entire working class. Our mission remains to fight the bosses, build worker power, and win a better world for working people.”

The full video is available here.

UAW 90th Anniversary Video Script

They said it couldn’t be done. But in 1935, autoworkers came together to form the United Auto Workers. Just a year later, they took bold action and changed American history when they launched the 1936 Flint sit-down strike. For 44 days, they refused to leave the GM plants until their voices were heard. Their actions set off a wave of strikes nationwide, igniting a new industrial labor movement.

From those first bold strikes to the Stand-Up Strike of 2023, the UAW has never stopped fighting. We won what no one thought possible: good wages, health care, pensions, a voice on the job, and dignity at work. We didn’t just raise the floor for autoworkers—we raised the bar for working-class Americans.

And we didn’t stop at the workplace. We marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Detroit’s Walk to Freedom, helped organize the March on Washington, and stood with him in Memphis in 1968. We fought alongside Nelson Mandela and the people of South Africa—pushing for sanctions against apartheid when others stayed silent. And we’ve stayed true to these same principles — whether in South Africa, Palestine, or beyond.

We stood with César Chávez and the United Farm Workers, joined the fight for women’s rights, and defended immigrant workers. We backed the G.I. Bill for returning veterans, helped pass the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and fought for the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

When trade deals like NAFTA threatened our jobs, we sounded the alarm, and we have remained vigilant in fighting to protect our communities and our jobs. When the auto industry was on the brink in 2009, we sacrificed to save it—and then fought to win back what was ours. 

Today, as billionaires try to take more and make us settle for less, the UAW is on the rise again: We’re organizing higher education, battery plants, and new sectors of the economy. Winning record contracts at Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Daimler Truck, Cornell University, and more. And proving—once again—that nothing moves without workers.

Ninety years in, our fight is far from over. But our spirit? Unbreakable. UAW. A fighting spirit. Since 1935.

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UAW Members at GE Aerospace Vote 84% to Authorize Strike at Two Facilities

CINCINNATI—Hundreds of GE Aerospace workers represented by UAW Local 647 voted 84% in favor of authorizing a strike. Their contract expires at midnight on August 27. GE’s impacted facilities include the Evendale, OH plant where workers build marine and industrial engines for the U.S. Navy, and the Erlanger, KY distribution facility that feeds GE plants all over the world. Core issues include job security, health care costs, and time off.

“Nobody wants to strike, but UAW members at GE Aerospace are overwhelmingly ready to because of the company’s outright insulting offers on the table,” said UAW Local 647 President Brian Strunk. “At some point you have to stand up, because a 36% increase in your health insurance isn’t sustainable, especially from a company whose CEO made $89 million last year alone.”

Between 2022 to 2024, GE Aerospace has reaped record revenue surpassing $100 billion for over $16 billion in shareholder distributions. CEO Larry Culp earned $89 million in 2024 alone—over 1,200 times more than the median worker’s annual income.

Meanwhile, as UAW members at GE bargain with management for a new contract, the company has responded by making insulting counteroffers that would increase health care costs for workers by 36% over four years and by refusing to address many of the good-faith proposals on the table. GE workers currently cite high health care costs as a primary source of financial difficulties.

For weeks, throughout bargaining, UAW-GE workers have mobilized, organizing mass plant solidarity walks every Wednesday at both the Erlanger and Evendale sites. Photo and video highlights from recent Wednesdays can be downloaded for use here. Additional videos distributed by the UAW can be found for use in this playlist here. For more information about bargaining, visit ge.uaw.org.

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UAW Local 647 represents over 600 GE Aerospace workers across two sites in Evendale, Ohio and Erlanger, Kentucky. UAW members in Evendale proudly build marine and industrial engines for the U.S. Navy. In Erlanger, UAW members are the distribution heart of GE global—feeding plants all over the world.

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UAW Members at GE Aerospace to Rally Ahead of Strike Authorization Vote

ERLANGER, KY—Hundreds of GE Aerospace workers represented by UAW Local 647 are rallying ahead of a contract expiration set for August 27 at midnight. After bargaining for weeks with the company, workers are frustrated with the lack of serious proposals put forth by GE that address core issues such as job security, health care costs, and time off. Following a contentious negotiation on Wednesday, the bargaining committee walked out and called for a strike authorization vote to be held this week.

WHO: Hundreds of UAW Local 647 members at GE Aerospace

WHAT: Rally ahead of strike authorization votes

WHERE: GE Aerospace facility, 1800 Donaldson Hwy, Erlanger, KY 41018 (rally will be near gate entrance at Delta Road)

WHEN: Thursday, August 21 at 1:30 p.m.

On Friday, August 22, UAW local 647 members at GE Aerospace’s facilities in Erlanger, KY and Evendale, OH will vote on whether to authorize a strike or not ahead of their contract expiration deadline on August 27 at midnight.

For weeks, UAW members at GE have been bargaining with management for a new contract. Core demands are around job security, health care costs, and time off. Throughout these negotiations, management has responded with either insulting counter-offers that would increase health care costs for workers by 40% over four years or by not offering any counters at all to good-faith proposals on the table.

During this time, workers have been mobilized, organizing mass plant solidarity walks every Wednesday at both the Erlanger and Evendale sites. Photo and video highlights from recent Wednesdays can be downloaded for use here. Additional videos distributed by the UAW can be found for use in this playlist here. For more information about bargaining, visit ge.uaw.org.

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UAW Local 647 represents hundreds of GE Aerospace workers across two sites in Evendale, Ohio and Erlanger, Kentucky. UAW members in Evendale proudly build marine and industrial engines for the U.S. Navy. In Erlanger, UAW members are the distribution heart of GE global—feeding plants all over the world.

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In New Video, BlueOval SK Workers Link Union Drive to Ford Workers’ 20th-Century Fight for Safety

GLENDALE, KY—Today, the UAW released a powerful new video featuring BlueOval SK workers calling for a union to win a real voice on the job, especially when it comes to their health and safety. The video ties the effort by workers at Ford Motor Company who pushed for safer factories nearly a century ago to the high stakes fight today as workers at its joint venture battery plant in Kentucky gear up for an NLRB election in a few weeks.

The new video, “BlueOval SK Union Drive Echoes Workers’ Historic Safety Fight at Ford” is available for use by the media here.

After months of an aggressive union-busting campaign driven by the company, production and maintenance workers at BlueOval SK, Ford’s joint venture battery plant in Glendale, Kentucky, will finally have their chance to vote in a union election on August 26 and 27. The vote will be conducted by the NLRB, with ballots counted starting at 8 p.m. on August 27.

In the video, BOSK workers connect their fight for basic protections today to the UAW’s historic fight at Ford to make auto plants safer in the 20th century. “It’s our time to sit across the table from management as equals,” narrates several BOSK workers in the new video. “We want a legally binding contract that guarantees our wages, health care, PTO policies, and health and safety.

“Workers in Michigan began a wave that changed America,” the video’s narration continues. “Battery workers in Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana have already taken this step and won. Now, it’s our turn.”

Currently, BlueOval SK is the only battery plant involving the Big Three that is non-union. GM’s Ultium plants in Ohio and Tennessee already operate under a UAW contract, and Stellantis’ StarPlus Energy plant in Indiana joined the union and ratified their local agreement earlier this year.

“A supermajority of BOSK workers filed for this election back in January because they were done with broken promises and unsafe working conditions. They were done being left out of decisions that impact their health and their futures,” said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith. “Just like Ford workers in the 30s and 40s, these workers are seeking safer working conditions, the affordable health care they were originally assured, and a voice on the job. They’re ready to get it.”

Kentucky taxpayers have poured millions of public dollars into this plant, and workers have expressed they should have a fair shot at choosing their union. Every elected official in Kentucky who claims to stand on the side of the working-class should look at BOSK right now to see what courage looks like.

Despite illegally firing and retaliating against union supporters and holding unlawful closed-door meetings to intimidate workers, the company has not stopped BOSK workers from moving forward. Workers remain determined to vote for a union and have a voice on the job.

Full transcript of the newly released UAW video featuring BlueOval SK workers ahead of their union election this month: 

[Narrated by several different workers from BlueOvalSK in Glendale]

In 1941, Ford auto workers changed history.

Facing workplace injuries, exhaustion, and deaths on the job, Ford workers took a stand that would echo generations. 

They came together and organized and—as United Auto Workers—won the right to negotiate for all of their working conditions. 

This history is not just a source of pride; it’s a lesson in solidarity to show what’s possible when working class people stand together. 

Today, Kentucky is the center of the battery belt. We’re building the future of the auto industry, and this transformative moment requires the same worker power that guarantees our safety and job security.

Whether in Dearborn, Michigan or Glendale, Kentucky, the technology may differ, but the risks remain the same. 

Wherever corporate greed puts our lives at risk, the fight for a safe workplace binds us together. 

 It’s our time to sit across the table for management as equals. 

We want a legally binding contract that guarantees our wages, health care, PTO policies, and health and safety. 

Workers in Michigan began a wave that changed America. 

Battery workers in Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana have already taken this step and won. 

Now it’s our turn. 

I’m ready to have a voice at BOSK. 

I’m ready to have a voice at BOSK—as United Auto Workers.

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UAW Statement on International Motors (Navistar) Union Election

The following statement regarding tonight’s union election results can be attributed to the UAW:

“Once again, the statewide political and business elites have closed ranks to protect their power and privilege, stacking the deck against Alabama workers. The statewide business lobby and their allies in government poured tens of thousands of dollars into commercials, digital ads, and union-busting consultants who charge thousands of dollars per day to coerce workers and sow fear at International Motors Huntsville.

When workers at this facility started organizing their union, over 60% of workers signed cards saying they wanted to form a union with their coworkers. Navistar management then violated the neutrality agreement in its contract with other UAW-represented employees and unleashed its aggressive, illegal union busting campaign.

The workers put up a brave fight in the face of illegal intimidation tactics and coercion, but ultimately it was not enough to overcome a defunded, understaffed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and a system that overwhelmingly favors the employer at the expense of workers.

International Motors is a wholly owned subsidiary of Traton Group, a German company whose official policy is to remain neutral if workers decide they want to unionize. Instead of following its own policy, the company CEO descended on the plant for the first time in years to campaign against workers unionizing. Then, ten days before the vote, as momentum built for the union, management tried to buy back support by reinstating a health insurance plan they had taken away last year. Now that the election is over, nothing stops them from ripping it away again. That’s exactly why workers need a union: without a contract, there’s no guarantee—only empty promises.

While the workers and the UAW followed the neutrality policy and the letter of the law, International Motors and Alabama’s anti-worker corporate special interest groups stopped at nothing to prevent workers from using their power to improve their lives. The UAW will pursue every available avenue, including multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges and the full use of the grievance procedure, to win justice for these workers.”  

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UAW Statement on Detroit Mayoral Primary Results

Our members endorsed Pastor Kinloch because we want a mayor unafraid to stand up and fight for every block in Detroit. For too long, politicians have focused on downtown. While developers and billionaires have had a feast, too many of Detroit’s working people haven’t had a plate.

Pastor Kinloch stood by UAW members—on strike and in the community. We know he will fight to make sure the neighborhoods that have been left behind finally get a seat at the table. His campaign has been about affordable housing that Detroiters can actually afford, good jobs that allow people to take care of their families, and a seat at the table for those who have been left out.

For our union, this campaign isn’t limited to ballot box results. UAW members participated in intense leadership training and development to run a bold, worker-led campaign. Our members knocked on thousands of doors and made tens of thousands of phone calls. They talked to UAW retirees on their porches, UAW kids on their blocks, and UAW members in their union halls and workplaces.

We look onward to November to fight for a Detroit that lifts every block.

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UAW Workers at Challenge Manufacturing Win Major Wage Gains, Tentative Deal Reached After Workers Stood Up to Company Rhetoric

Pontiac, MI — After weeks of stalled talks and mounting frustration, UAW members at Challenge Manufacturing have reached a tentative agreement that delivers significant wage increases, stronger job security, and greater union protections—overcoming the company’s stubborn refusal to deliver a contract that met members’ demands.

The deal comes after the company’s refusal to negotiate in good faith pushed workers to the brink of a strike. But UAW Local 653 members stood firm, mobilizing their coworkers and the community to force the company back to the table.

“Four weeks ago, the company called their offer ‘last, best, and final.’ It wasn’t good enough—and we fought back,” said James Gonzales, President of UAW Local 653. “We stayed united, rejected their proposal, and organized non-stop to hold them accountable. That pressure stopped them in their tracks. Now, we have a tentative agreement with 80% higher wage increases than what was on the table a month ago. Because we stood together in solidarity, we have a much stronger contract to bring to our members.”

The tentative agreement includes:

  • Wage increases of up to $3/hour, which for most employees represent a wage increase of at least 15%.
  • Stronger job security, including limits on the use of temporary workers and clearer paths to permanent employment.
  • Enhanced union security provisions, ensuring new hires are properly brought into the union and workers have stronger representation on the shop floor.

Challenge Manufacturing supplies critical parts for major GM and Stellantis models, including the Ram 1500, Jeep Grand Cherokee, GMC Hummer EV, and Corvette. The facility’s 400 workers had been without a contract since June 10, with some making as little as $18 an hour—less than many fast-food jobs in Oakland County.

“I’m proud of my UAW family at Local 653 who refused to settle for a bad deal,” said UAW Region 1 Director LaShawn English. “They stood strong, communicated directly with members every step of the way, and nearly doubled the company’s so-called final offer from just four weeks ago. On top of that, they secured important gains on job security and union rights. That’s the power of solidarity and smart organizing.”

Full details of the agreement will be shared with membership ahead of a ratification vote next week. The bargaining committee is unanimously recommending ratification.

“This contract sends a clear message,” Gonzales said. “We’re done being disrespected. We’re done being underpaid. And we’re done settling for less than we deserve.”

Working together, the Challenge Manufacturing Shop Chairman and Shop Committee stood firm with the local, regional and International leadership to reach a tentative agreement. Their dedication, unity, and persistence at the bargaining table were instrumental in securing a deal that reflects the priorities and strength of the membership.

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UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith Statement on Texas Redistricting Power Play

The following statement was issued by UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith:

Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans want to use this “Special Session” to rig the rules, pick their voters, and protect the billionaires they serve. What they aren’t doing is working on flood infrastructure and warning systems that could save Texans’ lives. They aren’t working on improving worker protections and laws that will help Texans have a stronger retirement and better healthcare.

They want to redraw Texas’ voting maps behind closed doors so they can choose their voters instead of the other way around. Their endgame is clear. They want to pass even bigger tax breaks for the wealthy by slashing vital services like Medicaid and Medicare. Enough is enough. Stop feeding the corporate greed machine and start looking out for Texas workers and their families.

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Dozens of NY Elected Officials Sign Letters in Support of Striking UAW Legal Services

Full letter to CAMBA leadership led by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. 

Full letter to Goddard leadership led by Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. 

 

NEW YORK— Approximately 1,850 of the 2,000 legal services workers represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys—UAW Local 2325 (ALAA)—reached tentative agreements last week following powerful strike actions and sustained public pressure. Remaining on strike are ALAA members at CAMBA Legal Services, Goddard Riverside Law Project, and Urban Justice Center while legal workers at organizations including the Legal Aid Society, New York Legal Assistance Group, Bronx Defenders, Office of the Appellate Defender, and the Center for Appellate Litigation are working as they vote on tentative agreements.  

This week, New York politicians representing neighborhoods where the remaining striking organizations serve vulnerable community members signed two letters of support, one addressed to CAMBA and the other to Goddard Riverside, respectively. 

The letter to CAMBA addresses the organization’s President and CEO Valerie Barton-Richardson and Chief Legal Officer and Executive Director Elizabeth Miller, with the executive senior staff, senior vice presidents, and board all copied. It was led by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and includes 26 elected officials such as NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, State Senators Zellnor Myrie and Jabari Brisport, City Counselors Carmen De La Rosa, Rita Joseph, and Crystal Hudson, and more.

The Goddard letter, addressed to Roderick L. Jones, President of Goddard Riverside, is signed by the elected representatives who refer cases to Goddard and, in some cases, have worked with Goddard for decades. The letter was led by Democratic Nominee for Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, currently a State Senator, and includes every single Manhattan west side elected representative.

Every day, ALAA members provide free legal representation to tenants facing eviction, immigrants at risk of deportation, families navigating child welfare and custody cases, survivors of domestic violence, the unhoused, and people seeking access to health care, disability benefits, and other critical services.

Underfunded for decades, these legal services workers are demanding fair wages, adequate resources, and staffing to reduce burnout and high turnover—issues that directly impact the quality of representation their clients receive. Common demands across the sector focus on lifting wages and guaranteeing workload protections that ensure working class New Yorkers get the best, most experienced advocates and that these union members can afford to stay in jobs they love.

As the cost of living rises and the city’s legal services funding lags, they are taking action to ensure all New Yorkers—especially working-class communities targeted by the Trump Administration’s harmful policies—have real access to justice.

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