Posts tagged Unite All Workers For Democracy
UAW Reformers Close Caucus, Launch New Organization
May 1, 2025 // The resolution to dissolve, which passed by a vote of 160 to 137, stated, “It is clear to us that the coalition of members that came together to achieve UAWD’s greatest successes can no longer work together toward common goals… There are two different visions for the kind of organization we need to build to advance a more militant union.” Opponents said the majority group should work through the internal conflicts or leave, rather than close the caucus. “These have been tensions since the beginning, and we worked through them,” said Jeremy Bunyaner, a tenant attorney and longtime caucus activist. “Do you not believe we can work together? Then leave, don’t shut it down.”
UAW shakeup leads to reassignments amid criticism of a new leader
February 29, 2024 // While Fain's letter suggested a calm transition of duties, a more explicit version of events was posted Wednesday in a statement on the website and Facebook page run by the activist group Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), which began as a dissident group backing Fain and Mock during their elections to leadership a year ago. It describes itself as "a grassroots movement of UAW members in good standing, united in the common goal of building a more democratic and fighting union." The statement said 11 of the 14 members of the UAW International Executive Board (IEB) had voted to reassign departments overseen by Mock, including departments now headed by English and Dickerson.
The United Auto Workers Meet Electrification
August 22, 2023 // LeRoy and Whiton calculated in their report that battery factory subsidies will range from $2 million to $7 million per job over the ten-year duration of the 45X program. One of their case studies is the $3.5 billion BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Michigan. So far, the facility has been awarded $1.7 billion in state and local government subsidies, in addition to qualifying for an expected $6.7 billion in federal 45X credits. Yet wages at the battery plant will average around $45,000 a year. The gap between the sheer amount of money on the table for manufacturers and the quality of job it translates into is the IRA’s weakest link. “The states where these facilities are located should be publicly saying that in exchange for such subsidies the company should allow for voluntary [union] recognition votes,” LeRoy suggested.
From Detroit to Hollywood, New Union Leaders Take a Harder Line
August 18, 2023 // The full-throated demands can also backfire in economic terms. Yellow, a trucking company with 30,000 employees, declared bankruptcy several months after talks with the Teamsters broke down. The company’s chief executive said in a statement that the Teamsters’ intransigence drove Yellow out of business, though analysts note that the company showed signs of mismanagement for years. The risks may be even higher in industries under pressure to embrace a new business model. The major U.S. automakers have said that they need the ability to team up with nonunion battery manufacturers to secure additional capital and expertise. But Mr. Fain, the new U.A.W. president, has said that the failure to organize more battery workers was a major failure of his predecessors, and that battery workers must receive the same pay and working conditions that union workers enjoy at the Big Three. Many U.A.W. members say the tension between the automakers’ goals and the union’s indicates that a strike will be hard to avoid when their contract expires in mid-September. But they do not appear to be shrinking from that possibility.
UAW leaders’ salaries going up, but percentage increase isn’t as high as in 2018
August 12, 2022 // Rather than listing the actual salaries as was the case previously, the 2018 document provided a formula, or multiplier, used to calculate the individual salaries for top leaders. The result, according to union activist Scott Houldieson, was that delegates at that year's convention were left to figure out that the salaries were being boosted by about 31%. UAW Local 551, Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, 3% raise, Frank Stuglin is secretary-treasurer, and Cindy Estrada, Terry Dittes and Chuck Browning are the vice presidents, although Estrada and Dittes are retiring,
UAW Accused of “Threatening and Intimidating” Members at Constitutional Convention
August 5, 2022 // But reports show that attendees who questioned the union’s status quo were heckled, intimidated or drowned out. The main issue that arose between leadership and attendees was that the UAW did not want to increase pay for striking workers. The vote to raise strike pay passed initially, but UAW leaders then put it up for a reversal vote after many members had already left the convention, allowing the policy to be reversed before it ever took effect. Union leaders also pulled the same trick to give themselves raises after the vote was first denied. “Our leaders … do not represent the rank-and-file members of our union. They represent the interests of staff and leadership. They represent the interests of their friends,” said Daniel Vicente of Local 644. “They absolutely robbed us again. We’ve been robbed by the people in prison; we’re getting robbed by these leaders here.” Daniel Vicente of Local 644, Scott Houldieson,
Auto Workers Turn a Corner for Strike Pay and Democracy
August 4, 2022 // Reformers in the Auto Workers won day one strike pay at the union’s constitutional convention in Detroit last week. They also forced open debate on the top concession that has weakened the union in the last 15 years—tiered contracts that condemn newer workers to lower pay and benefits beside “legacy” workers doing the same job. This was the first UAW convention since a leadership corruption scandal erupted, reformers won a member referendum last fall to adopt one-member-one-vote for top officers, and the auto industry began a serious transition to electric vehicles. Held every four years, the meeting has usually been a stale coronation of leaders. A newly organized reform movement turned the convention into a rowdy debate that, for moments, even overruled the top union leaders. Jessie Kelly, Yasin Mahdi, Willie Holmes, Mass Caucus,
UAW delegates, in departure from past, make nominations for top offices
July 28, 2022 // For the first time, delegates from union locals around the country walked to microphones and nominated candidates for the union’s top offices, including president, secretary-treasurer and vice president. They didn’t actually pick the leaders. That will happen later this year when members get to cast ballots, a result of the changes brought about by the consent decree with the government resulting from the corruption scandal. Margaret Mock, LaShawn English, Brian Keller, Jim Coakley, John Guinan, Frank Stuglin,
UAW members challenge Ray Curry for union presidency
July 5, 2022 // Instituting direct elections of United Auto Workers' international officials is leading some members to step up and challenge President Ray Curry to the union's top role, even from within Solidarity House. Passage last year of the "one member, one vote" system by a referendum vote of the membership was brought on by a years-long corruption scandal, implicating 17 people, including two former UAW presidents. It's setting up a historic leadership selection process ahead of next year's critical contract negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers as their transition to electrification increasingly affects shop floors and as the union covers an increasingly diverse swath of members. court-appointed UAW monitor, Reuther or Administrative Caucus, pension and retirement health-care benefits, socialist,