Tag Archive for: Laura Dickerson

,

UAW Members at CNH Racine Reach Tentative Agreement

The United Auto Workers announced today that UAW members at CNH Industrial’s Racine facility have reached a tentative agreement with the company on a new five-year contract covering approximately 300 members.

The Racine plant manufactures Case IH Magnum high-horsepower tractors and plays a critical role in agricultural equipment production in the United States.

“This tentative agreement reflects the strength and solidarity of our members in Racine,” said UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, Ag/Imp Department Director. “Workers stood together to win meaningful wage increases, improvements in health and safety protections, stronger retirement benefits, and commitments that help secure the future of this plant and the jobs it supports.”

In addition to stronger job security language, the tentative agreement includes major economic gains for both production and skilled trades workers, including 22% general wage increases for production employees and 29% general wage increases for skilled trades employees over the life of the five-year agreement. The deal also includes significant health and safety language improvements, healthcare enhancements, and improvements to retirement benefits.

The tentative agreement will now be presented to the membership for review and ratification voting.

,

Nurses at Ford Chicago Assembly Persevere, Vote to Join UAW

Local 551 is one of the most historic units in the UAW. The local’s roots go all the way back to the very beginning of the union in 1935, and over 5,000 of its members work at the iconic Ford Chicago Assembly plant, the automaker’s oldest operating manufacturing facility.

So, it would probably surprise many people to learn that the plant’s nursing staff has never been unionized. Yet, that was the case until April of this year, when the six nurses at Chicago Assembly withstood a vigorous anti-union campaign from the company and voted to join the UAW.

The organizing win is a testament to the determination of the nursing staff, who had attempted to unionize in two previous efforts that came up just short in recent years, and the unwavering support of Local 551, the UAW Ford Department, and Region 4.

“Every worker deserves to have a union,” UAW Vice President and Director of the Ford Department Laura Dickerson said about the union’s support of the nurses in their fight. “Every worker deserves to have the support they need to form their union if that’s what they choose to do. Our decision to get behind these six workers really came down to that belief.”

Mary Quasney, an associate nurse at the plant, said she felt they needed more say in how their workplace operated, citing concerns about chronic understaffing and the company’s lack of training opportunities as reasons for the organizing drive.

“We felt like management didn’t want to make any type of financial investment in us that would allow us to increase our skills and our knowledge,” Quasney said. “We felt like we were understaffed, and that can have negative effects on the work we do. We truly care about the workers in this plant, and we want to provide the best care possible for them when they come to us.”

Ford plant management was adamantly opposed to the nurses’ efforts from the get-go and ran an aggressive intimidation campaign to dissuade them from organizing. The company held multiple one-on-one meetings with nurses and distributed anti-union flyers filled with misleading information.

UAW representatives made sure to hold multiple meetings of their own with nurses to counter the company’s false messaging and were readily available 24/7 to answer any questions nurses may have about what joining the union would entail.

Throughout the organizing drive, Local 551 leaders and members working at the plant continuously showed their support for the nurses, stopping by the medical department to offer positive words of encouragement, recording a solidarity video, and delivering support cards with messages urging nurses to keep fighting.

“The support from the workers was amazing,” Quasney said. “They truly had our backs the entire time. I think it made us want to be a part of the union even more.”

On April 9, nurses voted 5-1 to join the UAW.

“I’ve been a member of this local for over 30 years, and during that entire time, the nurses here have never been unionized,” Local 551 President Chris Pena said. “So, to see them finally win a seat at the table, everyone at the local is incredibly proud of them for demanding a voice.”

“Some people might be asking, ‘Why so much effort for only six workers?’” Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell said. “But for us, it didn’t matter whether it was six workers or 600. Those nurses deserve the same support as anyone else. Our union was committed to making sure that was the case at Chicago Assembly.”

Now that the nurses are UAW, they will soon elect a bargaining chairperson and then begin negotiations with the company on a first-ever contract. For Quasney, finally having a voice on the job is just one of the many benefits of joining Local 551.

“We’re all just very excited to be joining the UAW,” Quasney said. “Local 551 does so much great work in the community and holds a number of events for its members every year, and now we get to be part of that. We’re very happy.”

,

Statement From UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson on Fatality at Sharonville Transmission Plant

“The UAW is devastated to learn that a member was killed on the job at Ford’s Sharonville Transmission Plant on March 16, 2026,” said UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, UAW Ford Department Director. “No one should ever go to work and never come home. It is our sacred duty as a union to protect the life, health, and safety of our members on the job. Members deserve a workplace free of threat to life and body. Our prayers are with the family, co-workers and loved ones of our fallen brother.”

,

After Enduring Months of Union-Busting Tactics to Undermine NLRB Vote, BlueOval SK Workers Deliver Petition Demanding Ford Recognize UAW and Negotiate Future of Glendale

On Wednesday, workers at BlueOval SK delivered a petition with over 1,000 signatures to the company’s corporate offices in Elizabethtown, demanding that Ford Motor Company recognize the union – and meet with the workers to negotiate over the future of the site.

In August, workers voted in favor of unionizing the joint venture in Kentucky. The company spent months fighting to undermine the results of the NLRB election until December – just before Christmas – when they informed over 1,600 workers that their jobs would be terminated on February 14. Meanwhile, the NLRB ruled against the company’s challenges to the vote, determining that the union at BlueOval SK be certified and recognized by the company.

“It’s time for Ford to do the right thing by BlueOval SK workers, recognize the union, and sit down to negotiate the future of Glendale,” said the UAW’s Ford Department Vice President Laura Dickerson. “As a legacy UAW company for over eighty years, this is a disappointing choice from Ford. Our union is going to stand up and fight for the more than 1,600 livelihoods this company is upending without any second thought.”

“We voted for a union at BlueOval SK because we wanted to have a voice,” said Brittany Diprisco, a Quality Operator in Cell Assembly at the plant. “That fight hasn’t changed. This is still about coming together with our coworkers to have a say in our future.”

“Despite this company fighting hard to undermine the results of the workers’ union election, when it was all said and done, the Board ruled in our favor,” said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith. “These workers are UAW members – end of story. It’s time for Ford to meet with us to negotiate the future of this plant in Glendale. Who are we? U-A-W!”

With over $250 million in state subsidies alone, workers and community supporters are calling on Ford to live up to the promise of good, stable jobs made when Kentucky agreed to give them taxpayer money to build the Glendale facility.

Photos and videos from today’s petition delivery are available for use by the media here.

, , ,

UAW’s Four Core Issues Take Center Stage on Day 2 of 2026 National CAP Conference

The UAW kicked off an event-filled Day 2 of its 2026 National CAP Conference, calling out corporate greed and focusing on the four core issues that will guide the union into 2028.

UAW President Shawn Fain gave an impassioned keynote address to the nearly 1,000 UAW members in attendance. “12 billionaires own as much wealth as the bottom half of society,” Fain said. “Our democracy is dying at the hands of an authoritarian billionaire class. The question we are here to answer is, how do we rise to the occasion? This is our defining moment. We need to send a clear message as a working class: A Billionaire dictatorship is not an option for the American people. Divide-and-conquer politics has no place in the working class!”

UAW Vice Presidents Mike Booth, Rich Boyer, and Laura Dickerson stressed the importance of winning real retirement security, not just in collective bargaining agreements for UAW members, but for the entire working class.

“If we want to win back real retirement security in this country, we have to win big at the Big Three in 2028. But then we have to keep going,” Booth told attendees. “Our union has always connected the bargaining table to the ballot box. What we win for our members, we want for every working-class person. We have to take our fight from the union hall to the halls of Congress.”

“These companies make billions of dollars off of our members’ work. And after we give decades to these companies, we’re asking for something simple: the right to a dignified retirement,” Boyer said. “But not just for us. We believe that every American should have access to quality, affordable healthcare.”

“We have retirees living in poverty. We have retirees working minimum wage jobs to survive. We have working people early in their career wondering how they ever retire,” Dickerson said. “In 2026, in the United States of America, at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, is that something we can accept? I say hell no.”

Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla spoke on the need to fight for more time off the job for UAW members: “It’s about more than just a paycheck. It’s about more than just our rights on the job. It’s about a much bigger question: What kind of life does the working class deserve? In the richest country in the history of the world, what kind of life can working class people expect to have?”

Guest speakers for Monday’s session included Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-6), SEIU-USWW President David Huerta, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14).

“For too long, healthcare has been used as a weapon against workers,” Dingell stated. “The time is now to ensure every American has quality health care. We’ve made a lot of progress, but we’re not going to stop until every single American is guaranteed health care. This is a human right.”

“Our country needs a labor movement that is ready to lean in,” Huerta implored, calling for worker solidarity in the labor fights ahead. “We should be preparing now for May Day 2028 to shut the whole thing down. Right now, our union is working to align our contracts with yours. When you go on strike, we’ll go with you!”

“We do not pledge of allegiance to Wall Street. We don’t pledge of allegiance to greed,” Ocasio-Cortez told an energetic crowd. “We pledge allegiance to no one president. We pledge allegiance to a nation. Our nation. The United States of America. To the betterment of all people.”

UAW Local 2250 member, Don Looney, who is running to represent Missouri House District 63, fired up the crowd, calling on UAW members to stand up and be the change needed in legislative halls across the country and to “kick ass for the working class!” You can find out more about Brother Looney’s campaign here.

In the afternoon, delegates attended various workshops to sharpen their knowledge on political topics based on the union’s four core issues.

Day Three of the 2026 National CAP Conference will convene at 9 am tomorrow.

Recap of Day One of the National CAP Conference

For more information on this year’s event, visit UAW.org/CAP2026.

 

 

Additional Day Two speaker remarks:

 

Region 2B Director Dave Green on the fight to save the Conn-Selmer plant in Eastlake, OH: “The epitome of hypocrisy and greed: the owner of Conn-Selmer, billionaire John Paulson, has been on TV talking about bringing jobs back to America. But when it saves him a penny, it’s fine to kill those jobs and ship them overseas. The system is broken. We need to fix this broken system.”

Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell on how UAW members win: “These companies don’t move an inch because of who you’ve got in negotiations, or how tough you talk, or how hard you pound the table. These companies respond to power. As a union, the real power we’ve got is our membership. If the membership is ready to strike, ready to protest, ready to vote, ready to move in unity, then, we’ve got real power.”

Region 6 Director Mike Miller on the need for the labor movement to take on the Trump administration: “We’ve got to remember that whether it’s funding cuts in California and Washington State, or plant closures in the Midwest – the story is the same. These are threats to our job security, to our basic ability to earn a decent wage and to live a decent life. And the task in front of us is the same too. Our only option, as a union and as a broader labor movement, is to organize and fight back on a massive scale.”

 

Photos courtesy of Brian Hedger and UAW Comms Staff

,

Statement on Ford Plant Visit from VP Laura Dickerson, Ford Department Director

The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union —the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.
 
The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member.
 
Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.
,

UAW Members from Agricultural Implements Sector Take Layoff and Plant Closure Fights to Congress

WASHINGTON—This week, UAW members from the Agricultural Implements sector took to Capitol Hill to raise the alarm on the devastating impact of bad trade deals, and fight layoffs and plant closures across the agricultural implements and construction equipment sector.

Since 2023, John Deere has laid off hundreds of workers and offshored multiple products from Iowa to Mexico. Caterpillar (CAT) operates three major manufacturing facilities in Mexico, with rampant labor abuses, driving a race to the bottom. And this month, CNH announced plans to close its Burlington, Iowa plant after nearly a century of operations.

“The American taxpayer and the American worker have invested millions of dollars and decades of blood, sweat, and tears to make these companies what they are today,” said UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, Director of the Agricultural Implements Department of the UAW. “To take that investment and kill American jobs to pay off Wall Street is a slap in the face to American workers, consumers, and taxpayers. DC needs to step up and stop corporate greed.”

“Executives at these companies think that the devastation of plant closures, lost jobs, broken homes, and the destruction of blue-collar communities are not their problem,” said UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell, “But the UAW is going to make these decisions a major problem for these corporations and their Wall Street buddies. We’re in Washington, D.C. this week to make their corporate greed a problem for politicians across the Midwest—regardless of if they are a Democrat or Republican.”

UAW members in D.C. met with the offices of Representatives Eric Sorensen (D-IL-17), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13), Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-1), and Ashley Hinson (R-IA-2). They also met with the offices of Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Roger Marshall (R-KS). In addition to the members of Congress, workers also met with staff from the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

In their meetings, UAW members laid out three core demands for how to better navigate the offshoring of midwestern jobs by corporate greed:

  1. Make it here to sell it here. UAW members are calling for the Commerce Department to launch a new Section 232 investigation into imports of heavy equipment and machinery.
  2. End the race to the bottom. UAW members are demanding the United States Trade Representative to prioritize protections for heavy equipment manufacturing in the July 2026 review of the USMCA, including strong Rules of Origin, tariff rate quotas, and a sectoral minimum wage.
  3. Job security. UAW members are demanding members of Congress pick a side and make sure Deere, CAT, and CNH return production from abroad and stop the layoffs, offshoring, and plant closures.

“American manufacturers, built on American values, are making decisions every day to close and move plants without looking at the people and families that they are impacting,” said Marcques Derby, UAW Local 807 Chairperson at CNH in Burlington, Iowa. “Politicians have a real say. Most of them take campaign contributions from companies that are offshoring good jobs held by their constituents. It’s our elected officials that need to utilize their voice—we elected them for that, didn’t we?”

In addition to this week’s lobbying efforts, hundreds of UAW members from across the U.S. recently submitted stories about the devastation of so-called “free trade” and the urgent need for a worker-centered transformation of our trade deals. The UAW International also submitted an extensive comment calling for transformative changes to North American trade policy that put the international working class first, ahead of corporate interests, which can be viewed here. The UAW will be making trade and the fight against mass layoffs and plant closures a major focus of our 2026 electoral efforts heading into the midterm elections to win for UAW members and the whole working class.

,

Keep Case In Burlington: UAW Members and Leaders to Rally to Save Burlington, Iowa from CNH’s Plan to Close Iconic Factory and Offshore Good Jobs

Burlington, IA – In the latest attack on southeast Iowa’s working class, multibillion-dollar transnational corporation Case New Holland (CNH) is threatening to devastate the blue-collar community of Burlington, Iowa, by closing a nearly century-old plant. CNH has made $6.6 billion in profits in the last three years alone and has spent over $3.1 billion of that on shareholder distributions and CEO pay.

In a new video, “Keep Case in Burlington,” CNH workers, retirees, and local politicians speak out against the economic war being waged on Burlington and towns like it across the country.

On Friday, November 7th, UAW President Shawn Fain, UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, and UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell, will join local leaders and community members to speak out against the company’s threats, and to rally to save Burlington from yet another devastating plant closure.

 

WHAT: KEEP CASE OPEN: Rally to Protect Our Jobs, Our Town, Our Future

WHEN: Friday, November 7, 3:30 p.m.

WHERE: 400 North Front Street, Burlington, IA 52601

WHO: UAW members and supporters, UAW President Shawn Fain, UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell, UAW Local 807 President Nick Guernsey, Mayor of Burlington Jon Billups, and others invited.

,

UAW Announces Results of Special Election in Region 1A

Detroit—The UAW has announced the results of an election held today in UAW Region 1A to fill the vacancy created when former Regional Director Laura Dickerson was elected UAW Vice President.

Delegates at a special regional convention elected UAW Local 600 1st Vice President Mark DePaoli to serve as the next Regional Director of UAW Region 1A, which covers thousands of active and retired UAW members across southeast Michigan.

“Laura Dickerson has been a dedicated leader and now brings her experience and commitment to our members in the Ford Department,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “We welcome Mark DePaoli to the International Executive Board and look forward to his leadership in Region 1A.”

DePaoli said, “I am honored to serve the members of Region 1A and to continue building our union’s strength in the workplace and our communities. Together, we will stand up for justice, fairness, and a better future for the working class.”

While the union has moved to a system of regular direct elections for its International Executive Board, mid-term vacancies at the regional level are filled by a vote of delegates, as outlined in the UAW constitution.

,

BOSK Workers Call on NLRB to Step In: “We Deserve a Fair Shot at a Union Vote”

GLENDALE, KY – The UAW is calling on the National Labor Relations Board to investigate Ford and BlueOval SK (BOSK) for violating federal labor law before it sets the date for an election to ensure a fair and democratic vote — one free from illegal employer intimidation, retaliation, and coercion.

A supermajority of workers at BOSK — the electric vehicle battery joint venture between Ford and SK On — filed for a union election with the UAW in January, demanding safer working conditions, the affordable health care they were originally promised, and a voice on the job. But since then, BOSK and Ford have launched a scorched-earth anti-union campaign designed to scare workers and chill support.

Instead of respecting the legal process or workers’ right to choose, BOSK has illegally fired and retaliated against vocal union supporters, unlawfully forced workers into closed-door meetings, and threatened to shut down the plant. The company has bought up anti-union ads, distributed anti-union swag, and brought in high-priced consultants to expose workers to non-stop anti-union campaigning.

“Ford knows better. For over 80 years, Ford workers have had a union and a voice. But at BOSK, they’re doing everything they can to stop these workers from having the same thing,” said Laura Dickerson, UAW Vice President and Director of the Ford Department. “You can’t have a fair vote when the company is flooding the plant with fear and propaganda.”

Workers say the company’s actions have poisoned the atmosphere around the election — especially in a workplace already plagued by serious safety concerns. A recent Louisville Courier-Journal investigation revealed that BOSK workers have faced toxic chemical exposure, broken bones, and faulty safety equipment.

“BOSK wants to act like there are no safety issues here. But the chemicals we work with are dangerous.  We want the ability to speak up and make things safer in a contract. That’s what a union is about,” said Rob Collett, a Production Associate.

Other workers described being told to work without proper gear and warned not to talk about forming a union.

“These BOSK workers are brave as hell,” said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith. “They stood up and organized because they want what everyone deserves — a safe job and a voice at work. Battery jobs are growing fast here in Kentucky, but they should be good, safe union jobs — not jobs where workers get hurt and silenced. We need a fair shot to vote without the company trying to rig the outcome. Elected leaders can’t look the other way while this industry grows — they need to have workers’ backs. Who are we? U-A-W!”

Workers and the UAW are calling on the NLRB to hold the company accountable until the Board can begin investigating the company’s actions and restore the conditions for a free and fair vote.

“We are excited to vote yes! We have been waiting for this for a long time. However, we are asking the NLRB to ensure a fair playing field,” said Emily Drueke, Quality Department.

The campaign at BOSK is part of a growing wave of worker organizing in the EV battery industry, including major wins at Ultium Cells in Ohio and Tennessee. Workers across the South are standing up — and demanding what they’ve earned: a union and a voice on the job.

UAW Logo

UAW SOLIDARITY HOUSE

8000 East Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48214

(313) 926-5000

Union Plus Logo

Connect

Organize

Latest News

New Detroit Arts Residency to Elevate Labor Artists

UNION PLUS- CREDIT CARD

People's Voice Winner Award
Webby Award Logo