Tag Archive for: Region 4

,

UAW Members Strike at Lockheed Martin, as Company Announces $1.7 Billion in First Quarter Profits

Detroit, MI – After months of negotiations, over 900 UAW members in Orlando, FL (Local 788) and Denver, CO (Local 766) have walked out on strike at Lockheed Martin, after the company committed multiple unfair labor practices and refused to present a fair economic proposal that meets the membership’s needs.

The strike begins during a time of record taxpayer-funded profits for the U.S. government’s largest defense contractor. Lockheed Martin made $24 billion in profit and paid its CEO $66 million over the last three years. Profits were up the first quarter of 2025, with Lockheed taking in another $1.7 billion. These mind-boggling profits aren’t going anywhere: the Trump administration is positioned to deliver a more than $1 trillion defense budget in 2025.

While Lockheed rakes in billions in taxpayer dollars, they are refusing to deal adequately with the union’s main demands. Under their latest offer, workers at Lockheed would work between 16 and 23 years to reach top rate for most pay classifications. Over 80% of the UAW workforce would remain in an unfair, extremely long pay progression. Even worse, the company is proposing a measly starting rate of $15 per hour. Lockheed is also refusing to recognize Veterans Day as a holiday, an insult to all UAW members who have proudly served this country.

“Lockheed’s workers have to wait years and even decades before seeing a comfortable standard of living, while its executives are swimming in taxpayer dollars,” said UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell. “Lockheed is a textbook example of corporate greed and I’m proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our members as they fight for their fair share.”

“UAW members at Lockheed Martin voted 99.3% in favor of authorizing a strike” said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith. “We are standing together in solidarity and we will have each other’s backs until we get a fair contract. Who are we? UAW!”

The striking Lockheed Martin workers are not the only UAW members in the defense sector standing up to billionaire class greed. Thousands of UAW marine drafters in Groton, CT are fighting for a fair contract, while General Dynamics, like Lockheed, makes billions from government contracts.

,

UAW Local 291 Members at Cummins Walk Out on Strike in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

OSHKOSH, WI – Yesterday, more than 90 members of UAW Local 291 who proudly make essential components for military and heavy construction equipment at Cummins Inc. in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, walked out on strike after the company failed to offer a fair contract agreement that respects workers and their families.

“Despite the UAW Local 291 Bargaining Team’s continued efforts, Cummins management has refused to offer a contract that addresses our members’ priorities: fair wages, affordable health care, and job security,” said UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell. “Cummins is holding our members’ economic proposals hostage by their continued refusal to bargain, while demanding harmful concessions. That’s not bargaining in good faith.”

Last week, the UAW-Cummins Bargaining Committee demanded that management stop playing games with workers’ futures. Cummins refuses to move on wages unless the union agrees to damaging proposals, including:

• Harmful language expanding the use of temporary workers
• Changes to inventory procedures that undermine job security
• Increases to an already excessive number of mandatory Saturday shifts

“We’re not creating tiers at Cummins – period. They need to back off their temp worker proposals,” said UAW Local 291 President Ryan Compton. “This company is making billions in profits while many of our members struggle to make ends meet. We won’t stand for it.”

Despite earning over $13 billion in profits over the past three years, Cummins continues to stall contract negotiations with UAW Local 291. First, management delayed bargaining until the day before the contract expired. Now, they are claiming they can’t meet again with union negotiators until April 21.

“It’s unacceptable,” added Campbell. “Our members are the ones building the industry-leading drivetrain systems that power this company’s success. They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.”

In late February, Local 291 members held a practice picket in Oshkosh, preparing for this moment. Now, they are walking the picket line, ready to fight for a contract that restores the losses they’ve suffered and delivers real economic justice.

Like many other UAW members who have stood up to unfettered corporate greed, the sentiment on the picket line is that workers are fed up with being left behind. They know what they’re worth and their willing to fight to get what they deserve.

,

2025 UAW International Women in Leadership Conference – April 3-6

WHO: Members who are Presidents, Vice Presidents, Financial Secretaries, Recording Secretaries, Bargaining Unit Chairs, Steward/Committee persons, Benefit Representatives and EAP Representatives.
WHAT: 2025 UAW International Women in Leadership Conference
WHERE: Pat Greathouse Educational Center,  1000 E Center St, Ottawa, IL 61350
WHEN: April 3 – 6, 2025

Calling any interested members who are Presidents, Vice Presidents, Financial Secretaries, Recording Secretaries, Bargaining Unit Chairs, Steward/Committee persons, Benefit Representatives and EAP Representatives. Reach out to your local union for details.

CALL LETTER
LOCAL UNION GUIDELINES
,

UAW Releases New Video Condemning Stellantis for Broken Promises and Mismanagement as Protests Against the Company Go Global

Today, the UAW released a powerful new video calling out Stellantis for failing to honor its commitments to UAW members and criticizing CEO Carlos Tavares for mismanaging the company. The release coincides with a one-day general strike by Italian unions to protest Stellantis’ significant production cuts and the broader impact on metalworkers across Italy.

The video can be accessed here and the media is invited to use the footage. 

UAW members from Belvidere, Illinois, including UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell and UAW Local 1268 President Matt Frantzen, joined the strike and spoke to the hundreds of thousands gathered to protest Stellantis’ baldfaced corporate greed. UAW members secured a commitment to reopen the idled Belvidere plant in their 2023 contract, but the company has not fulfilled its promise.

Pictures from the general strike in Rome can be accessed here and the media is invited to use the images.

The UAW’s new video highlights Stellantis’ refusal to follow through on the $19 billion in product and investment commitments made during the 2023 Stand Up Strike. These promises include reopening the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois—a crucial agreement that Stellantis is now trying to backtrack on. In the video, UAW President Shawn Fain directly addresses Stellantis members , urging them to stand up and fight for their jobs and futures by going to ShitcanCarlos.com to sign a strike authorization pledge.

“This is about your job, your life, and the question is, are you going to let Carlos Tavares tell you to sit down and shut up?” Fain asks in the video. “Or are you going to stand up and fight for what’s right, for what you deserve?”

As Stellantis has filed frivolous lawsuits and robocalled members in a desperate effort to block the union’s actions, three UAW locals have already passed strike authorization votes, with more locals preparing to follow. The union’s grievance process, initiated due to Stellantis’ failure to reopen Belvidere and invest in future production, is moving forward. If grievances remain unresolved, a strike at one or more Stellantis facilities could begin within weeks.

The UAW video serves as a call to action for members and allies, clearly stating that the union will not back down in its fight to hold Stellantis accountable.

For more information, visit ShitcanCarlos.com, where viewers can learn about the campaign to “Keep The Promise” and find the latest updates on the fight against Stellantis’ mismanagement.

The full transcript of President Fain’s narration is below:  

UAW family, as you may have heard, Stellantis has filed more than a dozen frivolous lawsuits against our Union. This is an act of desperation, plain and simple.  

Two weeks ago, nearly 200 leaders from UAW locals across the country came to Detroit to discuss the situation at Stellantis.  

At the meeting, we reviewed the clear evidence that CEO Carlos Tavares and Stellantis are seriously violating the product commitments in our national agreement. Stellantis has not kept its commitment in Belvedere and has unallocated the Dodge Durango from the Jefferson North Assembly Plant.  

For years, this company has picked us off, plant by plant, and our leadership lacked the will and the means to fight back. The Stellantis Council unanimously decided that those days are over. All 200 UAW leaders unanimously recommended to the membership that every UAW worker at Stellantis prepare for a fight and that we all get ready to vote yes to authorize a strike at Stellantis.  

Now in response, Stellantis is trying to use the federal courts to stop our campaign to get this company to keep the promises they made to American auto workers in our 2023 contract.  

Stellantis management has launched a campaign of intimidation and harassment against our members, our local unions, and the International UAW to try to get us to back down from the fight to save our jobs.  

I have bad news for Stellantis: we’re not going anywhere.  

Their corporate lawyers are claiming that our fight to keep jobs in Belvedere, Detroit, and America is based on what they call “sham grievances.”  

But here’s the real sham: over the past nine weeks, Stellantis has spent over a billion dollars on stock buybacks, all while saying they can’t afford to keep their commitments to their own employees. In fact, Stellantis has spent $3 billion on stock buybacks this year alone.  

Our proposal would cost a fraction of what Carlos Tavares has pissed away on Wall Street to save his stock price, which is down 55% since March.  

The real sham is this campaign of intimidation and interference in our Union’s business.  

Stellantis managers are calling members, threatening their jobs. They’re emailing our local presidents threatening lawsuits.  

This is what happens when a CEO is cornered and isolated. His dealers in America and Europe are turning against him. His suppliers and shareholders are suing him, and he’s pushing our customers away. 

And the sham is that he will walk away with a golden parachute of millions and millions of dollars, while American autoworkers are left holding the bag.  

The sham took place this week when he was asked about stepping down or being replaced. Carlos Tavares said, and I quote, “I signed a contract.”  

Well, Carlos, the workers at Stellantis signed a contract too, and it’s time for you to honor it.  

Our fight is about honoring a contract that Carlos Tavares signed. Our fight is about tens of thousands of American auto worker jobs, our families, and our communities.  

This is about your job, your life, and the question is, are you going to let Carlos Tavares tell you to sit down and shut up? Or are you going to stand up and fight for what’s right, for what you deserve?  

These aren’t sham grievances. These are our lives. Carlos Tavares is a sham CEO with a sham strategy to drive this company into the ground.  

We will once again save this company from mismanagement, from corporate greed, and from killing tens of thousands of good jobs, but only if we stick together. Only if we stand up.  

So, are you in? If you are, sign your strike authorization pledge today. And you can do that by going to shitcancarlos.com.  

Let me repeat that: you can sign a strike authorization pledge by going to shitcancarlos.com.  

Let the company know where you stand. And together, let’s tell Stellantis, the days of plant closures are over, and Carlos Tavares needs to go. 

,

Julian Electric Workers File for Union Election to Join UAW, Will Hold Mass Meeting Saturday in Chicago

WHAT:     Press Conference and One-on-one Availability after Mass Meeting
WHEN:     Saturday, Aug. 24, Noon
WHERE:   UAW Local 551, 13550 S Torrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60633

Workers at a parts plant near Chicago have just filed for a union election and are holding a mass meeting on Saturday at a union hall on Chicago’s Southeast Side. A supermajority of the 350 workers at Julian Electric, Inc., in Lockport, Ill., have signed union authorization cards saying they want to form a union with the UAW.

Julian Electric, which supplies parts to Ford, Navistar and other Fortune 500 manufacturers, has already started running an aggressive anti-union campaign against its largely immigrant workforce.

“We are fighting together for respect,” said Gabriela Morales, a worker at Julian Electric. “We do the work here and we deserve a voice. By winning our union we will make ourselves heard!”

On Thursday at 10 a.m., a delegation of workers delivered a letter to Julian Electric’s human resources office asking the company to voluntarily recognize their union. Later that day, the workers also filed a request for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board so they can promptly move forward with a vote if Julian Electric refuses their request.

The Julian Electric workers will hold their mass meeting on Saturday at UAW Local 551 in Chicago. The UAW members of Local 551 work at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, and the Ford Explorers they make use parts from Julian Electric.

“We are all autoworkers,” said Gilbert Foust, a Ford worker and organizer with Local 551. “Julian Electric workers deserve more money and more respect, and the members of Local 551 are going to do everything we can to make sure they win their union and their fair share.”

“We are human beings, not machines, and it’s time Julian Electric treated us that way,” said Aimee Piña, a union supporter at Julian Electric recently fired by the company. “I was fired for supporting a coworker who was fired unfairly. If we speak up about the heat in the plant—it is so hot some people faint—or the lack of respect, we are fired. We have to have our union, or we will never be heard.”

,

VIDEO: Local 1391 on Strike at CVR Nitrogen Fertilizer in East Dubuque

Local 1391 members in UAW Region 4 have been holding the line on strike at CVR Nitrogen in East Dubuque, IL, since October of last year, courageously standing up to protect their retirement security.

Workers walked out after the company refused to guarantee they will provide a match to workers’ 401(k) contributions during current contract negotiations.

In a new video released by the UAW, workers at CVR Nitrogen speak out about why they are willing to stay out on strike as long as it takes to secure their future.

“In our (previous) contract, it stated that the 401(k) could be changed at any time,” Dusty Glab says in the video. “And by change you would assume it would be maybe a percentage or so. But they took it away. They took the 401(k) match from us.”

“A year later, they reinstated it, and they claim they’re never going to do it again. So, we’re just asking for that to be put into writing.” Dustin Cady explains.

“That is the only retirement that we have,” Larry Flogel says. “We do not receive any type of pension plan or any other benefits whatsoever toward retirement.”

“I think it’s a David and Goliath fight because it’s corporate greed against the hardworking American man trying to make a living for his family,” Dean Beschen says. “(CVR) thought we were going to fold within a week (on strike). They’re hoping and they were telling the employees that were running the plant that it ain’t going to be long, that we’re going to fold.”

“I’m willing to stay out indefinitely, if that’s what it takes,” Cady says.

“This is bigger than 94 people on strike,” Local 1391 President Doug Glab says about the importance of standing up against the company’s greed.

“It’s more about a principle and a belief and, honestly, what we believe we deserve,” Dusty Glab adds.

The strike at CVR comes on the heels of UAW members winning record contracts at the Big Three automakers and Allison Transmission in Indianapolis, Indiana.

UAW Logo

UAW SOLIDARITY HOUSE

8000 East Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48214

(313) 926-5000

Union Plus Logo

Connect

Organize

Latest News

UNION PLUS – CAR RENTAL DISCOUNTS

UAW Statement on Mexico’s SINTTIA Organizing Drive at GM San Luis Potosí

People's Voice Winner Award
Webby Award Logo