UAW Leads 6 Unions in Call for Ban on Stock Buybacks and Dividends at US Defense Contractors
The United Auto Workers, along with six unions representing members at the largest U.S. defense contractors, are calling on members of Congress to support a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would ban defense contractors from stock buybacks and dividends. Since 2020, the big five prime defense contractors have spent twice as much on stock buybacks and dividends than capital expenditures, while defense workers fall further behind.
“The working class makes the defense industry run, but instead of investing in our national and economic security, companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Woodward, and dozens more spend taxpayer dollars on Wall Street payoffs to enrich the billionaires,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “It’s time we put an end to defense contractors paying off Wall Street while defense workers and taxpayers pay the price.”
In a letter to members of Congress, the unions call on legislators to “stand with America’s defense workers and seize this opportunity to enshrine” the provision called Section 815 into law, following on an executive order by the Trump administration enacted in January. Section 815 would implement legislation introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) by imposing a blanket ban on Wall Street payouts to incentivize investment in the facilities and workers that make the industry run, instead of short-term stock market paydays.
“With the industry’s center of gravity progressively shifting to investor returns, workers too have paid an enormous price,” the letter continues. “In contract negotiations and organizing campaigns with these employers, we hear time and again that there are not enough resources to provide workers with job security and fair compensation. In just the past two years, this has led to labor disputes and work stoppages at major defense contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Textron, GE Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and more.”
The press is invited to read the full letter here, signed by the following labor organizations:
United Auto Workers (UAW)
United Steelworkers (USW)
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE)
Communications Workers of America (CWA)
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART)
