National Events
BARGAINING BOOT CAMP
May 18-23, 2025. This high-energy conference is designed to empower local union educators to build effective education committees, sharpen their skills as facilitators, and engage member mobilization.
EDUCATION COMMITTEES CONFERENCE
May 18-23, 2025. This high-energy conference is designed to empower local union educators to build effective education committees, sharpen their skills as facilitators, and engage member mobilization.
EAP CONFERENCE
June 1-6, 2025. This conference will provide the resources and training local union EAP representatives need to support the wellness of our members.
FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP
July 20-25, 2025. This program is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for UAW members to bring their families to attend a Black Lake conference and learn about our union, unlock ideas, and build new friendships.
CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT BOOT CAMP
Sept 7-12, 2025. This boot camp is designed for grievance handlers to develop organizing and technical skills to become a more effective union representative while also working through more complex challenges facing stewards in a modern workplace.
MEMBER MOBILIZATION CONFERENCE
Sept 28-Oct 3, 2025. This lively conference is intended to mobilize members to action around issues affecting the working class, both on the job and in our communities.
LOCAL UNION OFFICERS INSTITUTE
Oct 5-10, 2025. This conference is for local union officers to learn about their roles and responsibilities as leaders of a fighting union, the importance of teamwork, inclusive leadership, membership involvement, political activism, and organizing.
ORGANIZING CONFERENCE
Oct 12-17, 2025. This conference is intended for those who want to refine their organizing practice, lead organizing conversations, move people through fear to action, and design strategic campaigns that empower workers to win.
The Walter & May Reuther UAW Education Center
Combining nature, education, and solidarity, the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center was created for UAW members across the country to build the strength of our union through learning and fellowship. Thousands of members and retirees have visited our Center, affectionately named Black Lake, to become educated about their union, address the issues that workers face, develop leadership skills, and become an active participant in the labor movement.
Our Center
For over fifty years, Black Lake has been the educational hub that has inspired our members to move from being a unionist to an activist. There are several opportunities each year for members to attend various conferences, institutes, summer schools, and other events.
Our Black Lake campus spans over 1,000 acres and includes a hotel, campground, classrooms, dining and lecture halls that are surrounded by lush hardwood forests. This serene environment is the perfect setting for members to enjoy the splendors of nature, connect with one another, and imagine a better world.
History of Our Center
Our conference center has a rich history of not only the story of Walter Reuther, the UAW’s longest serving president, but also of labor’s part in shaping this nation. By January 1967, the UAW had completed the purchase of land on the shores of Black Lake to build a center where UAW members could learn, meet, share ideas, and build friendships.
Reuther envisioned Black Lake to be aligned with nature by bringing the outdoors in and let the landscape dictate the Center’s footprint on its environment. Reuther, along with longtime friend and renowned architect, Oskar Stonorov, were committed to preserving the oak, pines, maples, aspen and hemlock trees on the site. He and Stonorov wanted the Center to be a lesson on how to build without destroying nature. Reuther personally examined and tagged practically every tree on the site, and in some cases, construction lines were altered to preserve a particular piece of nature.
Walter famously said, “Black Lake is a thing of beauty, where man and nature can live in harmony.”
Shortly after opening our Center in May 1970, we tragically lost our beloved leader when a plane carrying Walter, his wife May, Oskar Stonorov, Reuther’s bodyguard Willy Wolfman, and two pilots fatally crashed while on a final approach to the Pellston airport.
Throughout our Black Lake campus, you can discover dozens of artifacts that were donated by labor organizations from around the world in honor of Walter and May Reuther’s lives and their devotion to the labor movement.
Today, our Center and those who visit it serve as an embodiment of Walter’s vision. A place where workers can connect on common issues, build a better organization, learn labor history, and prepare our fight for the common goal of social and economic justice.
Learn more about Black Lake by visiting www.uawblacklake.com
