Tag Archive for: UAW Region 8

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In New Video, BlueOval SK Workers Link Union Drive to Ford Workers’ 20th-Century Fight for Safety

GLENDALE, KY—Today, the UAW released a powerful new video featuring BlueOval SK workers calling for a union to win a real voice on the job, especially when it comes to their health and safety. The video ties the effort by workers at Ford Motor Company who pushed for safer factories nearly a century ago to the high stakes fight today as workers at its joint venture battery plant in Kentucky gear up for an NLRB election in a few weeks.

The new video, “BlueOval SK Union Drive Echoes Workers’ Historic Safety Fight at Ford” is available for use by the media here.

After months of an aggressive union-busting campaign driven by the company, production and maintenance workers at BlueOval SK, Ford’s joint venture battery plant in Glendale, Kentucky, will finally have their chance to vote in a union election on August 26 and 27. The vote will be conducted by the NLRB, with ballots counted starting at 8 p.m. on August 27.

In the video, BOSK workers connect their fight for basic protections today to the UAW’s historic fight at Ford to make auto plants safer in the 20th century. “It’s our time to sit across the table from management as equals,” narrates several BOSK workers in the new video. “We want a legally binding contract that guarantees our wages, health care, PTO policies, and health and safety.

“Workers in Michigan began a wave that changed America,” the video’s narration continues. “Battery workers in Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana have already taken this step and won. Now, it’s our turn.”

Currently, BlueOval SK is the only battery plant involving the Big Three that is non-union. GM’s Ultium plants in Ohio and Tennessee already operate under a UAW contract, and Stellantis’ StarPlus Energy plant in Indiana joined the union and ratified their local agreement earlier this year.

“A supermajority of BOSK workers filed for this election back in January because they were done with broken promises and unsafe working conditions. They were done being left out of decisions that impact their health and their futures,” said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith. “Just like Ford workers in the 30s and 40s, these workers are seeking safer working conditions, the affordable health care they were originally assured, and a voice on the job. They’re ready to get it.”

Kentucky taxpayers have poured millions of public dollars into this plant, and workers have expressed they should have a fair shot at choosing their union. Every elected official in Kentucky who claims to stand on the side of the working-class should look at BOSK right now to see what courage looks like.

Despite illegally firing and retaliating against union supporters and holding unlawful closed-door meetings to intimidate workers, the company has not stopped BOSK workers from moving forward. Workers remain determined to vote for a union and have a voice on the job.

Full transcript of the newly released UAW video featuring BlueOval SK workers ahead of their union election this month: 

[Narrated by several different workers from BlueOvalSK in Glendale]

In 1941, Ford auto workers changed history.

Facing workplace injuries, exhaustion, and deaths on the job, Ford workers took a stand that would echo generations. 

They came together and organized and—as United Auto Workers—won the right to negotiate for all of their working conditions. 

This history is not just a source of pride; it’s a lesson in solidarity to show what’s possible when working class people stand together. 

Today, Kentucky is the center of the battery belt. We’re building the future of the auto industry, and this transformative moment requires the same worker power that guarantees our safety and job security.

Whether in Dearborn, Michigan or Glendale, Kentucky, the technology may differ, but the risks remain the same. 

Wherever corporate greed puts our lives at risk, the fight for a safe workplace binds us together. 

 It’s our time to sit across the table for management as equals. 

We want a legally binding contract that guarantees our wages, health care, PTO policies, and health and safety. 

Workers in Michigan began a wave that changed America. 

Battery workers in Ohio, Tennessee, and Indiana have already taken this step and won. 

Now it’s our turn. 

I’m ready to have a voice at BOSK. 

I’m ready to have a voice at BOSK—as United Auto Workers.

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UAW Statement on International Motors (Navistar) Union Election

The following statement regarding tonight’s union election results can be attributed to the UAW:

“Once again, the statewide political and business elites have closed ranks to protect their power and privilege, stacking the deck against Alabama workers. The statewide business lobby and their allies in government poured tens of thousands of dollars into commercials, digital ads, and union-busting consultants who charge thousands of dollars per day to coerce workers and sow fear at International Motors Huntsville.

When workers at this facility started organizing their union, over 60% of workers signed cards saying they wanted to form a union with their coworkers. Navistar management then violated the neutrality agreement in its contract with other UAW-represented employees and unleashed its aggressive, illegal union busting campaign.

The workers put up a brave fight in the face of illegal intimidation tactics and coercion, but ultimately it was not enough to overcome a defunded, understaffed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and a system that overwhelmingly favors the employer at the expense of workers.

International Motors is a wholly owned subsidiary of Traton Group, a German company whose official policy is to remain neutral if workers decide they want to unionize. Instead of following its own policy, the company CEO descended on the plant for the first time in years to campaign against workers unionizing. Then, ten days before the vote, as momentum built for the union, management tried to buy back support by reinstating a health insurance plan they had taken away last year. Now that the election is over, nothing stops them from ripping it away again. That’s exactly why workers need a union: without a contract, there’s no guarantee—only empty promises.

While the workers and the UAW followed the neutrality policy and the letter of the law, International Motors and Alabama’s anti-worker corporate special interest groups stopped at nothing to prevent workers from using their power to improve their lives. The UAW will pursue every available avenue, including multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges and the full use of the grievance procedure, to win justice for these workers.”  

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UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith Statement on Texas Redistricting Power Play

The following statement was issued by UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith:

Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans want to use this “Special Session” to rig the rules, pick their voters, and protect the billionaires they serve. What they aren’t doing is working on flood infrastructure and warning systems that could save Texans’ lives. They aren’t working on improving worker protections and laws that will help Texans have a stronger retirement and better healthcare.

They want to redraw Texas’ voting maps behind closed doors so they can choose their voters instead of the other way around. Their endgame is clear. They want to pass even bigger tax breaks for the wealthy by slashing vital services like Medicaid and Medicare. Enough is enough. Stop feeding the corporate greed machine and start looking out for Texas workers and their families.

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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.

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UAW Hails Decision of Federal Judge to Restore Terminated NIH Grants

Detroit, MI – Leaders of the UAW reacted today to Judge William Young’s ruling to reverse the cancellation of hundreds of National Institutes of Health grants the agency had recently cut based on claims that they support certain topics including “gender ideology” or “diversity, equity and inclusion”. The UAW, which was a plaintiff in one case, represents more than 120,000 academic workers at higher education institutions across the country, many of whose work and careers were directly impacted by the terminated grants.

“These politically motivated attacks jeopardized medical and scientific progress and threatened the jobs of researchers studying climate change, renewable energy, cancer, viral pandemics, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s,” said Brandon Mancilla, Director of UAW Region 9A, which includes New York, Massachusetts and the Northeast. “This decision is poised to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in previously allocated research funding, reanimating labs and workers focused on some of the most pressing health questions we face. We are grateful that this work can now get back on track.”

“Judge Young was right to call these cuts exactly what they are: illegal and discriminatory,” said Mike Miller, Director of UAW Region 6, which covers California, Washington and much of the western U.S. “The research UAW workers perform is essential to the development of technologies and treatments to enhance public health – and we are hopeful that that work is now able to proceed.”

“Not only did these attempted cuts impede lifesaving care for millions of Americans, but delays in treatment are projected to cost the public billions of dollars,” said Tim Smith, Director of UAW Region 8, which includes the National Institutes of Health and much of the mid-Atlantic seaboard. “We thank Judge Young for his decision, and are hopeful that we can now move forward with the research and innovation so many Americans depend on.”

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Autoworkers Score Major Victory in Tennessee as GM Announces $4 Billion Reinvestment in U.S. Plants

Spring Hill, TN – In a historic move signaling a shift in the American auto industry, General Motors announced a $4 billion reinvestment across three U.S. plants—including a major investment in its Spring Hill facility in Tennessee. The move brings thousands of good union jobs back to the South and underscores the rising power of autoworkers in a region long written off by corporate America.

“This is a big deal for Spring Hill,” said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith. “For decades, corporations offshored jobs and left blue-collar communities behind. But now, because of worker organizing and fair-trade policies like auto tariffs, GM is finally putting money back where it belongs—in union plants, with American workers.”

The UAW has long called for an end to the unfair trade practices that allowed automakers to offshore U.S. jobs, slash wages, and shutter dozens of once-thriving plants. More than 2 million vehicles a year have disappeared from American production lines over the last decade, while factories across Mexico and low-wage regions flourished under an exploitative trade system.

“Southern workers have always had the skill, the pride, and the fight—it’s just the companies that needed to end their race to the bottom,” said UAW Local 1853 President John Rutherford. “This investment in Spring Hill will mean more people with access to great wages and benefits and the protections of a union contract.”

Spring Hill is already home to a growing UAW membership, and workers there played a key role in last year’s Stand Up Strike, which won historic gains in wages and job security.

“Spring Hill has always delivered,” said UAW Local 1853 Chairman Jason Spain. “Now we’re getting the chance to use our extra capacity to build even more. The Blazer’s coming to Spring Hill, and we’re fired up to get to work.”

The UAW continues to call for a broader industrial strategy that includes strong trade protections, enforceable labor standards across borders, and an end to Wall Street-driven profit hoarding. The union’s demands include:

  • Tariffs on imported vehicles and parts to prevent job offshoring.
  • A renegotiated USMCA with a North American minimum wage and enforceable labor rights.
  • Reshoring of the parts supply chain and domestic manufacturing investment.
  • A ban on stock buybacks and greater reinvestment in American workers.

The UAW leaders say this investment by GM is a step in the right direction—but there’s much more work to do. To truly end the race to the bottom, we need enforceable protections for workers both in the U.S. and abroad. That means real rights on the job, the freedom to assemble and organize, and strong unions across borders. Trade policy without labor rights is just corporate welfare—and we won’t settle for that.

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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.

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One Year Later: VW Workers Celebrate Historic Breakthrough and Look Ahead to Locked-In Gains in First Union Contract

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — One year after making history as the first Southern autoworkers outside the Big Three to unionize, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga are preparing to secure a landmark first contract—one that guarantees, in writing, the better wages, benefits, and workplace protections they fought to win.

No longer at the mercy of Volkswagen’s shifting promises, workers are demanding a legally binding agreement that puts their priorities—fair pay, affordable health care, paid time off, safer working conditions, and protections against favoritism—into writing. Since their union victory in April 2024, they have elected a 20-person bargaining committee, which has been negotiating contract language that reflects the demands of the 4,000-member workforce.

For workers like Steve Cochran, a worker in the skills trades, the union is about securing a better future. The co-chair of the Bargaining Committee says a strong contract ensures that promises are delivered—and that respect and security are no longer up for negotiation.

Members are fighting for a contract that meets the standard already established across the U.S. unionized auto industry—and that matches Volkswagen’s record-breaking profits.

Just days after Volkswagen, the world’s second-largest automaker, reported $20.6 billion in profits for 2024, a new UAW survey of nearly 1,800 Chattanooga workers reveals the crushing financial impact of the company’s substandard U.S. health care. The results show a workforce plagued by high out-of-pocket costs and inadequate coverage—nearly 73% of respondents said they’ve either had to choose between medical care and essentials like rent or food, or gone into debt to afford care. That number climbs even higher among parents and caregivers with children on VW’s insurance plan, exposing the human cost of the company’s failure to meet industry standards.

Over the past four years, Volkswagen has funneled $29.9 billion to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks. In response, Chattanooga workers are demanding their fair share—through real improvements in wages, benefits, safety, job security, and rights on the job. But this fight goes beyond economics. They are pushing for stronger safety standards, fair scheduling, paid leave, protection from unfair discipline, and a true voice in the decisions that shape their daily lives. After more than a decade of operating without a union, workers say it’s time to end the era of exploitation that has defined the Chattanooga plant since it opened in 2011.

But as bargaining has progressed, Volkswagen has escalated its anti-union tactics and shown flagrant disregard for U.S. labor law. In March, the UAW filed federal labor charges against the company for unilaterally cutting jobs and making major changes without negotiating with the union, in violation of federal law. This attack on American jobs and workers’ rights underscores the company’s disrespect and preference for low-wage production abroad.

Today, Volkswagen manufactures 75% of its North American vehicles in Mexico, where workers earn roughly $7 an hour. This business model relies on exploitation, suppresses wages across borders, and undermines American manufacturing.

Just weeks after the illegal shift reduction announcement, VW management locked workers out of their own bargaining session, calling security and shutting the doors on union members who came to observe and share their experiences. In response, workers took to the streets, holding a rally to demand respect and a fair contract.

UAW President Shawn Fain praised the Chattanooga workers for igniting a movement to raise standards for the working class across the South.

“VW workers made history a year ago—and now they’re making it count,” said Fain. “They stood up, took on the boss, and won their union. They’re fighting for a contract that reflects the power they have built and locks in real raises, real rights, and real respect. This is what happens when working-class people stand up together.”

The Chattanooga workers’ fight is not just about one plant—it’s part of a growing working-class movement to take back power, hold global corporations accountable, and build a future where all autoworkers, no matter where they are, have a collective voice to shape their working conditions and demand a share in the prosperity they create.

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At 37 Actions Across the US, Tens of Thousands Rally to Stop Cuts to Federal Research, Health and Education

Detroit, MI — Thousands of people across the country came together yesterday for Kill the Cuts, a national Day of Action to raise awareness and fight back against the Trump administration’s devastating attacks on research, health, and higher education. The events (see the full list here) were sponsored by a coalition of education, labor and health advocates, including UAW, SEIU, AFSCME, UE, NEA, AFT, CWA, AAUP, HELU, Labor for Higher Education, the Debt Collective, and more.

Researchers and educators who have had their funding cut spoke about the effects this assault on publicly-funded research is having at their institutions and across the country. Below is a collection of remarks and associated photography:

 

“NIH is the bedrock of American health,” said Haley Chatelaine, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health and member of UAW 2750, which represents 5,000 workers there. “I’ve spoken with patients whose lives depended on the groundbreaking research we do. Any delay–whether it’s due to pauses in grant funding or firings of federal workers–puts Americans’ health at risk. That’s why we, the workers who do the research, are standing up to protect it.” (Photos here, credit UAW)

“By cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care, the Trump administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars,” said Rafael Jaime, president of UAW 4811, which represents 48,000 workers at the University of California. “These cuts are dangerous to our health, and dangerous to our economy.” (Photos here, credit UAW)

“Federal research funding is critical to my research into how neurons in our brains communicate, making it possible to develop better therapeutics for severe health conditions that range from cancer to depression to learning disorders,” said Dagan Marx, a Postdoc at Weill Cornell Medicine and member of the Weill Cornell Medicine Postdocs United-UAW Bargaining Committee. “Recklessly slashing funding that institutions like Weill Cornell depend on for medical breakthroughs and supporting researchers has devastating impacts on our research and our working conditions.” (Photos here, credit New York City Central Labor Council)

“I’m proud to be researching ways to better detect ovarian cancer after losing my mom to the disease two years ago. There are still no routine screening tests for ovarian cancer, which would save lives. Without funding from the NIH, breakthroughs won’t happen and that’s a tremendous loss for research and the general public,” said Mari Hoffman, an Academic Student Employee in Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Washington and member of UAW 4121. (Photos here, credit UAW)

 

President Trump has recently issued Executive Orders attacking the NIH, NSF, while dismantling the Department of Education. These attacks jeopardize medical and scientific progress and threaten the jobs of researchers across the country studying critical topics including climate change, renewable energy, cancer, viral pandemics, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. Not only do these attacks impede lifesaving care for millions of Americans, but delays in treatment are projected to cost the public billions of dollars.

More information about the National Day of Action and a list of rally locations can be found at www.killthecuts.org.

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UAW Files Federal Labor Charges Against Volkswagen for Violating Workers’ Rights in Chattanooga

Chattanooga — The UAW has filed federal labor charges against Volkswagen for violating U.S. labor law at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant. The company is attempting to cut jobs and make major changes without first negotiating with the union, as required by law.

In a statement, UAW President Shawn Fain said:

“Nearly a year ago, thousands of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga voted to join the UAW, to win the respect and dignified life that union autoworkers at the Big Three have enjoyed for generations.

Since then, the company has failed to meet the basic standard at the bargaining table that 150,000 American autoworkers have won at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

Volkswagen is the second most profitable automaker in the world. On Tuesday, the company reported over $20 billion in profits in 2024. And on Wednesday, they announced their intention to cut a shift at their single American plant, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

This is a company that makes 75% of their North American products in Mexico, paying highly exploited workers around $7 an hour to sell cars for tens of thousands of dollars in the US. They do this to avoid paying a living wage and drive a race to the bottom in the auto industry. It’s bad for workers everywhere.

And instead of coming to a fair agreement for their American autoworkers in Tennessee, Volkswagen is choosing to attack American auto jobs.

The UAW has notified the Trump Administration of Volkswagen’s unacceptable, anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-American conduct. It is no accident that they want to ram through a layoff in America in the days before expected auto tariffs take effect, as they profit from high exploitation labor in Mexico.

The 4,000 autoworkers in Chattanooga deserve better. America deserves better. And the UAW is going to fight like hell to deliver for Chattanooga, for Volkswagen autoworkers, and for the whole working class.”

This latest charge highlights a continuing trend of union-busting tactics by Volkswagen aimed at silencing American workers. The UAW is committed to holding the company accountable and protecting workers’ rights on the job.

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