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