UAW President Ray Curry Statement on UAW Priorities as We Head into 38th Constitutional Convention After two long years of living with the difficult conditions caused by the pandemic, our union is emerging strong and energized. In less than two months, we convene to debate the important matters facing our union. It is a healthy process that strengthens our democracy, and we all look forward to gathering in Detroit from July 25-28. There are some principles that the UAW stands for, however, that are not subject to debate. They are fundamental. They guide us today and tomorrow. For almost eighty-seven ...
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President Curry and the International Executive Board are very pleased to announce that we are well into the planning phase of the 2022 Constitutional Convention. We go into this iconic event with renewed energy, enthusiasm, and purpose. The convention will be held at the TCF Center, formerly Cobo Hall, in Detroit, Michigan. The dates are July 25-28, 2022. We look forward to seeing so many of our members back in Detroit where this great union of ours was founded.
The Rev. Dr. William Barber, the fiery preacher and leader of the Poor People’s Campaign, brought delegates to their feet with a message about race, politics, inequality and how America’s “rejected” and disadvantaged can turn the tables and take this country back. Rev. Barber explained that failed bureaucracies that leave communities with poisoned water, states that suppress voting rights and politics that play to issues that divide Americans are detrimental to our democracy and must be stopped. Racism. Gender discrimination. Militarism. Those are issues the powerful use to divide allies. Those are issues that caused supporters to turn against the ...
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President of the Teamsters union and longtime UAW friend James P. Hoffa greeted convention delegates Tuesday with a reminder of the long history the two organizations share and a pledge to continuing standing with the UAW in years to come. “You know this is a special moment because you think back 60 or 70 years ago and the people who were the founders of the labor movement here in Michigan were two guys, one named Walter Reuther and the other Jimmy Hoffa. Together they made history,” Hoffa told delegates. “Today we build on their accomplishments. We can all be proud ...
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Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO, encouraged UAW members to stay strong in the face of legislative attacks on labor and working families, “what is at stake for us is much more important than we could ever imagine.” The right to collectively bargain, Johnson said, is something that we all hold sacred and something that created and cemented a bond between the UAW and the NAACP for more than 75 years. “Individually we cannot lose sight of why we were created and why we exist,“ Johnson said. The loss of civility in this country has created space for things to ...
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Steve Bullock, Montana’s second-term governor and former attorney general, helped UAW convention delegates connect the dots between the union experience in Montana and Michigan. He shared a story from 1917 about 168 miners who died in the worst hard-rock mining disaster in the United States at the Granite Mountain mine. The tragedy led miners to fight for more protections and safer working conditions. In later years, Detroit auto workers, like the Montana miners, were fighting for good jobs and safe pay. As those fights ramped up all over the country, workers were banding together, bringing attention to poor working conditions ...
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In a robust speech, Detroit NAACP president Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony praised the union on its history of social activism and partnering with others including civil rights groups in the fight for social and economic justice. Rev. Anthony, who proudly explained he is a proud honorary member of UAW Local 600, talked about the works and words of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and longtime UAW President Walter Reuther and their continuing relevance. Together, unions and groups like the NAACP have enormous power, he said, but that power must be leveraged to its full extent. “Everybody must come to ...
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The UAW’s 37th Constitutional Convention opened this afternoon with a robust welcome by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan extending a big thank you to the union for the good work members continue to do. Approximately 1,100 delegates are attending the convention. The event is held every four years to conduct the union’s business, including electing International officers. Mayor Duggan, now in his second term as Detroit mayor, has led the city through a turnaround that has netted international acclaim for a comeback that is reshaping the city into a bustling urban hub. In his remarks, he praised the work of the ...
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