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FLINT — UAW workers and supportive community members rallied earlier today in Flint at a canvassing kick-off for U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin. With Michigan at the heart of U.S. manufacturing and the fight for good union jobs, the event promoted the UAW’s endorsement of Slotkin and highlighted the large field program Michigan UAW members are running to elect her as their next senator.
UAW President Shawn Fain, UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes, and Rep. Slotkin all delivered remarks at the rally.
The Flint event is part of a broader election effort by the union in Michigan. Across the state, UAW members are canvassing to engage co-workers, retirees, and UAW households. They’re holding conversations that emphasize the importance of supporting candidates who back a pro-worker, anti-corporate greed agenda to secure the future of manufacturing in Michigan and beyond.
“Rep. Slotkin has been a champion for autoworkers and union members in Michigan while her opponent has consistently voted to weaken workers’ rights. We need Rep. Slotkin to be Michigan’s next senator,” said Steve Dawes, UAW Region 1D Director. “We also know that the path to the White House could run through Michigan. Vice President Kamala Harris has walked our picket lines, showing her support not only for labor but for all working-class people.”
In August, UAW launched its most ambitious political program in decades for an all-out effort to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States and to put other pro-worker candidates in office. The Union’s program includes mobilizing UAW members online, at worksites, and in the field with a door-to-door program to reach members, retirees, and their families.
The Union’s one million active and retired members will form a core base of support for the Harris-Walz campaign and will provide a major piece of the campaign’s margin of victory in Michigan. In 2020, the UAW’s membership accounted for 9.2% of Biden-Harris’ votes in Michigan alone.
The UAW’s plan to win stems from the vision that launched 2023’s Stand Up strike and movement. By putting out the facts, uniting the working class, and letting members lead the way, the UAW’s “Stand Up, Speak Up, Show Up” campaign will mobilize workers to defeat the billionaire class at the ballot box.
Photos and videos from the event can be access here.
Dearborn, MI – UAW Local 600’s Tool & Die Unit at Ford’s Rouge Complex has reached a tentative local agreement with Ford Motor Company.
A deal was secured that strengthens job security by protecting against the impacts of advancements in 3D printing, along with establishing a process to secure additional die work as required. Additionally, the UAW achieved an agreement to eliminate the wage disparity for skilled trades, ensuring fair and equal pay across the board.
Now, the roughly 500 UAW members at the Dearborn facility will review the details of the agreement and hold a ratification vote in the coming days. If ratified, the agreement will set a new standard for the skilled trades at Ford.
“The members at the Rouge Complex understand the power of strength in numbers,” said UAW Vice President Chuck Browning. “They stuck together and showed Ford that they were willing to stand up if necessary to win what they deserve.”
FLINT — With Michigan at the heart of U.S. manufacturing and the fight for good union jobs, the UAW will host a rally and canvass kick-off with U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin in Flint, Michigan on Saturday, September 28. The event will promote the UAW’s endorsement of Slotkin and highlight the large field program Michigan UAW members are running to elect her as their next senator.
UAW President Shawn Fain, UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes, and Rep. Slotkin will deliver remarks to kick off the rally.
The Flint event is part of a broader election effort by the union in Michigan. Across the state, UAW members are canvassing to engage co-workers, retirees, and UAW households. They’re holding conversations that emphasize the importance of supporting candidates who back a pro-worker, anti-corporate greed agenda to secure the future of manufacturing in Michigan and beyond.
“Rep. Slotkin has been a champion for autoworkers and union members in Michigan while her opponent has consistently voted to weaken workers’ rights. We need Rep. Slotkin to be Michigan’s next senator,” said Steve Dawes, UAW Region 1D Director. “We also know that the path to the White House could run through Michigan. Vice President Kamala Harris has walked our picket lines, showing her support not only for labor but for all working-class people.”
WHAT:
UAW Canvassing Kickoff in Flint with featured speakers UAW President Shawn Fain, UAW Region 1D Regional Director Steve Dawes, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin
WHEN:
Saturday, September 28, at 3:00 p.m. ET
WHERE:
UAW Local 659
4549 Van Slyke Rd, Flint, MI 48507
WHO:
UAW President Shawn Fain
UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes
Elissa Slotkin, candidate for U.S. Senate
UAW workers and allies
In August, UAW launched its most ambitious political program in decades for an all-out effort to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States and to put other pro-worker candidates in office. The Union’s program includes mobilizing UAW members online, at worksites, and in the field with a door-to-door program to reach members, retirees, and their families.
The Union’s one million active and retired members will form a core base of support for the Harris-Walz campaign and will provide a major piece of the campaign’s margin of victory in Michigan. In 2020, the UAW’s membership accounted for 9.2% of Biden-Harris’ votes in Michigan alone.
CHATTANOOGA— Today, the UAW released a new video outlining the priority demands of Volkswagen workers as contract negotiations between the union and the German automaker begin for a first agreement at the Chattanooga plant.
The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage.
After a historic victory earlier this year, where 4,300 Volkswagen workers voted almost 3-to-1 to join the United Auto Workers (UAW), union members are now campaigning for a strong first contract. On September 19, the 20-person elected bargaining committee kicked off negotiations with Volkswagen, aiming to win a first agreement that raises standards and includes wages, benefits, and protections on par with those secured by autoworkers in unionized plants.
“I got the carpal tunnel scar right there,” describes Josh Epperson, highlighting the need to prioritize health and safety protocols in their contract. “We have jobs in there that we know are going to hurt people. So why haven’t we done anything about that?”
The vote to join the UAW this past spring marked a watershed moment in the labor movement, with Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga becoming the first Southern autoworkers outside the Big Three to unionize. Now, they are channeling that momentum toward bargaining for a contract that delivers meaningful improvements to their work and lives.
With the success of recent Big Three and Daimler Truck negotiations as inspiration, Volkswagen workers are setting a powerful example of what’s possible when workers come together to demand fairness at work.
“I have tears in both my rotator cuffs, and I have to have surgery,” says Yolanda Peoples, a UAW bargaining committee member. “If we’re gonna win the contract that we deserve, it’s not just the bargainers. We need everyone involved.”
With representation across every department and shift, the bargaining committee has been meeting for weeks to synthesize survey data about members’ aspirations and goals for the first agreement. Supported by veteran negotiator Chuck Browning, UAW Vice President, the group has been reviewing company and industry data and contract language from agreements with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
Full transcript featuring workers from the Volkswagen Chattanooga bargaining team:
I realized the first day, when they told me how much we were making, we need a union. I said if you need a Norma Rae, I’m your girl.
GM and Stellantis. Workers got incredible gains, but their companies aren’t nearly as big as Volkswagen.
It’s up to everybody in that plant to come together and make sure we get what we deserve.
Safety is probably the biggest thing. I mean, I don’t want to worry about losing a limb or breaking a bone.
The company denies injuries until they can’t anymore. I needed carpal tunnel surgery for six years, and they said that it wasn’t work related because it was my non-dominant hand. They told us to use our non-dominant hand.
I’m currently sitting here, right. And I have tears in both my rotator cuffs, and I have to have surgery.
I got the carpal tunnel scar right there. We have jobs in there that we know are going to hurt people. So why haven’t we done anything about that?
The PTO is a big deal.
I went to medical. ‘Oh, you got Covid, you got to go home.’ They turned my badge off. I was gone for about five days. And I realized when I came back, I had all these points. I’m like, why do I got all these points? I didn’t send myself home. Medical sent me home.
I take my PTO when I want it. Not when you want me to take it.
For me, a big deal is retirement. Job security is a big deal. I’m 52.
I have three kids. Is their care covered? Am I at the right doctor? How is that going to impact me financially? I should never have to worry about that. I worked for the world’s largest auto manufacturer.
And when you’re talking about one company making more money than members of the Big Three do, and you see what they provide their employees … come on.
With a contract, it changes the power dynamic completely. They’re in the business to make money. They’re not they’re not in the people business. That’s what the unions for.
The bargaining team is only one part of this. We need the support of everybody in that plant. We all stood up together to win the union. Let’s all stand up together now to win a contract.
If we’re gonna win the contract that we deserve it’s not just the bargainers. We need everyone involved.
It involves 4,311 people that are in that plant every day.
Sign your name to the members’ demands. Talk to your coworkers.
That’s how we won our union and that’s how are we going to win the best contract that you ever seen?
Better than Ford, better than GM. Everybody … Chattanooga! That’s how we going to get it.
Today, the UAW released a new video as part of its 2024 political program, highlighting how NAFTA and the USMCA trade deals were a betrayal—a giveaway to corporate greed, backed by politicians from both parties, with American workers ultimately paying the price. The video draws a sharp contrast between Trump’s support for damaging free trade deals and Kamala Harris’s efforts to bring the Democratic Party back to its roots, prioritizing working-class people.
The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage.
Narrated by UAW President Shawn Fain, the video outlines how NAFTA and the USMCA have devastated the working class, destroying the U.S. manufacturing base and sending good-paying jobs across the border.
“For 40 years, the American working class has been under attack,” narrates UAW President Shawn Fain. “Especially blue-collar manufacturing workers … In the 1990s, they went after what remained of our good manufacturing jobs. Republicans and some Democrats, including a Democratic President, passed NAFTA … An estimated 90,000 factories closed over the next 25 years due to NAFTA and similar trade deals. And corporate America, with friends in both parties, won again.”
In 2016, a segment of autoworkers reeling from the pain of manufacturing job loss turned their votes to Trump. As the working-class continues to feel the pain of surging costs of groceries and rents, UAW members recognize Trump is not the answer. As UAW President Fain says in the video: “He had his moment as President.”
“Both parties have been influenced by corporate America. And both parties have done harm to the working class. But with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, we’ve seen the tide starting to turn.
“Under Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party is getting back to its roots, where working class people come first. Where union members aren’t the enemy. And where corporate America doesn’t call all the shots. We need to keep that going, and we need to be loud and clear as working class people what we expect from our political leaders.”
This video is part of the UAW’s 2024 political campaign to mobilize UAW members and their families in support of endorsed, pro-worker candidates, using the same tools and tactics deployed during last year’s successful Stand Up Strike and in subsequent contract and new organizing victories in the South.
The video’s full transcript via President Shawn Fain is available below:
For 40 years, the American working class has been under attack. Especially blue-collar manufacturing workers. In the 1980s, corporate America went on the offensive against the labor movement, with the full backing of the Republican Party. They fired thousands of blue-collar workers, closed plants, and concentrated wealth at the very top. They said the wealth would trickle down to the working class. They lied. And yet that wasn’t enough for corporate America.
In the 1990s, they went after what remained of our good manufacturing jobs. Republicans and some Democrats, including a Democratic President, passed NAFTA. A third-party candidate at the time, Ross Perot, warned of the giant sucking sound of good jobs leaving this country. And he was right. NAFTA was wrong.
An estimated 90,000 factories closed over the next 25 years due to NAFTA and similar trade deals. And corporate America, with friends in both parties, won again. In the 2000’s Republican George W. Bush passed massive tax breaks for the wealthy. And when the recession hit, it was the working class that felt the pain.
Democrat Barack Obama stepped in and worked to save the auto industry. But auto workers, as always, took massive sacrifices in the process. All of that pain had to go somewhere. And for a lot of working-class people, it went to voting for Donald Trump. Trump pulled the oldest con job in the book. He said, I’m not like other Republicans. I’m not like other billionaires. I’m on your side.
Meanwhile, he did George W. Bush one better, and pulled off the biggest tax cut for the wealthy in history. Where 80% of Trump’s tax cuts went to the top 1%. He oversaw even more auto plant closures while doing nothing to help the American auto worker. He signed NAFTA 2.0, or the USMCA, which has increased the trade imbalance with Mexico and sent more good jobs out of our country.
So let me say it again. The working class is feeling a lot of pain. But Donald Trump, the billionaire, the con man, is not the answer. He had his moment as President.
Both parties have been influenced by corporate America. And both parties have done harm to the working class. But with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, we’ve seen the tide starting to turn.
After dealing with the pandemic, over the past three and a half years under the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS Act, we’ve seen more manufacturing investment in this country than at any point in my lifetime.
Under Kamala Harris the Democratic Party is getting back to its roots, where working class people come first. Where union members aren’t the enemy. And where corporate America doesn’t call all the shots. We need to keep that going, and we need to be loud and clear as working class people what we expect from our political leaders.
But we can’t get fooled or distracted by a con man like Donald Trump. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris. That’s why our union has endorsed Kamala Harris, and that’s why our country needs Kamala Harris as our next President.
Dearborn, MI – The Tool & Die Unit at Ford’s River Rouge Complex will strike on Thursday, September 26 if local contract issues are not resolved.
After Ford Motor Company has failed to reach a local agreement with the UAW Local 600, Tool & Die Unit at the Rouge Complex more than a year past the contract deadline, UAW Vice President Chuck Browning has received authorization from UAW President Shawn Fain to set a strike deadline for 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, Sept 25.
The core issues in the Tool & Die Unit’s local negotiations are job security, wage parity for Skilled Trades, as well as work rules.
In addition to the UAW’s national contracts, UAW members negotiate local agreements around plant-specific issues at each facility.
DETROIT – UAW President Shawn Fain will address the UAW membership on Facebook Live at 7 p.m. ET tonight. He will discuss Stellantis’ refusal to fulfill the product and investment commitments it made in the UAW’s 2023 contract and the union’s next steps to ensure the company invests in America.
The media is invited to view the livestream at the UAW’s YouTube Channel or social media accounts.
The livestream comes one day after the union filed federal labor charges and grievances against Stellantis for violating the 2023 contract, refusing to provide information about its product and investment commitments, and moving Durango production out of the United States.
JACKSON – After months of negotiations, approximately 525 UAW members have walked out on strike at Eaton Aerospace, an aerospace factory in Jackson, Michigan that produces hydraulics equipment for civil, commercial, and military aircraft. The strike came after the workers’ extended contract expired on September 5.
“We are fighting for our future and our community,” said Donnie Huffman, president of UAW Local 475. “Every worker should have the right to be able to spend time with our grandkids. When your CEO is making more than $20 million, it’s pretty galling when they cry poverty at the negotiating table.
“Enough is enough. We’re standing up to fight for what is fair.”
The Fortune 500 company has continued to push for a two-tier retirement system that would end the pension plan and 401(k) for all new hires by the end of the contract.
In addition to fighting to protect their right to retire, workers are also calling for their next contract to provide quality health care, include wages that reflect workers’ contributions to the company’s growing profits, and establish fair processes for scheduling and promotions.
Over the last decade, Eaton Aerospace has had a revenue of over $208 billion and a net income of $22 billion. In 2023 alone, the company had a net income of $3.2 billion, an increase of 31% from the year prior. Eaton paid its CEO $20.5 million in 2023, an increase of 46%. Eaton has yet to offer workers a contract that reflects the gains its top executives have been receiving.
“This company has made billions on workers’ backs,” said Don Donihue, a trustee at the UAW local. “It is insulting that Eaton executives are trying to deny us our right to retire while giving themselves millions year after year. They can clearly afford to pay what we’re asking for.”
“UAW members are not afraid to stand up for what we’re owed. We are fighting for each other and for our families,” said Lynann Bacon, an inspector who works at Eaton. “If Eaton’s executives want to not respect workers, we will hold them accountable.”
“Eaton workers see the record profits and know it should mean a record contract,” said UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes. “This corporation continues to funnel money to the top and then ask workers to sacrifice more. Our members see through that and are demanding their fair share of the profits.”
Eaton workers are the latest UAW members to Stand Up during contract negotiations. UAW members have won record contracts in the last year, including at Cornell University in New York and Daimler Truck in North Carolina. The one-year anniversary of the Stand Up strike that resulted in autoworkers at the Big Three winning historic raises and benefits is September 15, 2024.
On Monday, the UAW filed federal unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board for Stellantis’ illegal refusal to provide information about the company’s plans regarding product commitments it made in the UAW’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement.
Several UAW locals covering thousands of members have also filed contract grievances over the company’s attempt to move Dodge Durango production out of the United States, in violation of the UAW’s national agreement.
On Tuesday, September 17, at 7pm ET, UAW President Shawn Fain will address the UAW membership on Facebook Live. The media is invited to watch on UAW’s YouTube or social media accounts.
“In our 2023 contract, we won major gains, including a commitment to reopen an idled assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, and to build the Dodge Durango in Detroit. We also won the right to strike over those commitments, if we have to,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Now, Stellantis wants to go back on the deal. As a united UAW, we intend to enforce our contract, and to make Stellantis keep the promise.”
“Stellantis is one of the most profitable auto companies on the planet, and makes its money off of the American market,” said UAW Stellantis Department Director Kevin Gotinsky. “UAW members generate that profit and build the product that keeps this company running. We will take action if necessary to stop Stellantis from violating our contract and abandoning the American worker.”
More than a dozen local unions covering tens of thousands of Stellantis workers have filed grievances against the company’s attempt to back out of their commitment to reopen Belvidere Assembly and other violations of the product & investment commitments secured in the UAW’s Stand Up Strike last year. The filings are the union’s latest push to get Stellantis to Keep The Promise to American autoworkers.
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