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United Auto Workers (UAW)

Plan 2028: Bringing Labor And Social Movements Together

March 15, 2025 Stephanie Luce, Portside. , , , ,
The Trump Administration has come in with brute force, attacking working people and institutions from all angles. Their “flood the zone” strategy has left many feeling confused and powerless. But MAGA forces are not unstoppable. Strong coalitions among labor and social movement organizations offer one of the best hopes for blocking the rise of white Christian nationalist forces, and for countering authoritarianism with progressive power. In Fall 2023, United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain called for unions around America to align their contracts with a May 1, 2028 expiration date, in order to align with the UAW’s next round of bargaining with the Big Three: Ford, General Motors (GM), and Chrysler (now Stellantis).

UAW Strike Threat Defeats Stellantis Job Cuts

February 2, 2025 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. , , , ,
After the powerful auto strike in 2023, the United Auto Workers won a commitment from Stellantis (formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot) to reopen a closed plant in Belvedere, Illinois, by 2027. However, Stellantis, under the direction of CEO Carlos Tavares, reneged on its commitment one year later. Regarding other plants, the company threatened to move future production to plants outside the U.S. This would violate product commitments agreed to under the 2023 contract. Thousands of workers were laid off indefinitely.

How Union Democracy Builds Labor’s Strike Power

December 24, 2024 Alex Press, Dissent Magazine. , , ,
Scott Houldieson had some questions. He had worked at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 551, since 1989, but in the late 2000s the company was in a financial hole following the Great Recession, and the leaders of the UAW told him and his fellow coworkers that they were going to have to give up some of the benefits that had long made auto work a good blue-collar job. Houldieson understood that times were hard; he’d seen the quarterly reports showing gigantic losses for the company, even if it wasn’t facing bankruptcy like its competitors, but something still didn’t compute.

Despite Stellantis’ Broken Promises, Auto Workers Keep Up The Fight

December 9, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
On December 1, Portuguese business executive Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned as CEO of one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world. On December 2, the United Auto Workers (UAW), one of the largest unions in the country, issued a statement welcoming the resignation, as well as announcing that Stellantis finalizing an employee leasing agreement with workers in Kokomo, Indiana, long overdue after Tavares’ delays. In 2023, autoworkers across the United States went on a historic strike against the three largest automakers in the United States: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

Kentucky Battery Plant Workers Launch Union Drive With UAW

November 23, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. , , ,
A majority of the 1,000 auto workers at the car battery park Blue Oval in Glendale, Kentucky, have signed union cards to join the United Auto Workers. The battery park, a joint venture between Ford and South Korea’s SK On, is expected to ramp up hiring to 5,000 hourly workers by 2030. It has twin battery plants. But the second one is on hold due low demand for electric vehicles. At the first plant, workers are testing battery module packs from facilities in Georgia, as the plant prepares to become fully operational next year. Since he started last year, Chad Johnson has seen co-workers suffer mild heart attacks and respiratory problems, apparently from exposure to chemicals.

Autoworkers Face Massive Assault On Their Livelihoods

November 6, 2024 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. , , , ,
The U.S. economy only added 12,000 jobs in the month of October, a big drop from the 200,000 average monthly job gains previously in 2024 and just one-tenth of the predicted 120,000 added jobs for September. But whether October’s overall figures are a trend or a blip, workers in the auto industry are facing a massive crisis of job insecurity. Stellantis, formed by the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s PSA Peugeot, has put thousands of workers on indefinite or permanent layoff around the Midwest. Metro Detroit is particularly hard hit.

The Call Is Out For Mass, Simultaneous Strikes In 4 Years

October 16, 2024 Sarah Lazare, Workday Magazine. , , , , , , ,
There is a credible call for a general strike in the United States in four years. The call first came from the United Auto Workers after its fall 2023 stand-up strike, in which the union took on the Big Three carmakers simultaneously in rolling, surprise work stoppages. All three contracts that emerged are slated to expire on the same day: May 1, 2028, International Workers’ Day. This is not the first time UAW has aligned the Big Three contracts, but what the union did next is remarkable. It put out a challenge to the US labor movement: “We invite unions around the country to align your contract expirations with our own so that together we can begin to flex our collective muscles,” UAW announced on October 29, 2023.

The UAW Is Bargaining For Better Conditions At Volkswagen

October 15, 2024 Sarah Jaffe, In These Times. , , , , , ,
Turning onto Volkswagen Drive in Chattanooga, the first big shiny building you pass is actually an Amazon fulfillment center. It’s only a little up the road that you come upon the VW campus, the sleek silver buildings rising from the hills and trees, a series of windowless hulks, one of them proudly proclaiming its GoTo ZERO IMPACT FACTORY. As if a factory can have zero impact on the community, on the people who go to work there each day, let alone the environment, the climate. Factories shape towns. They always have. They shape the world. The workers at the VW plant are trying to do some shaping of their own, now that they’ve won their union.

UAW Reformers Muster Forces To Hold Bosses To Their Word

October 3, 2024 Keith Brower Brown and Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes. , , ,
A year after the United Auto Workers’ Stand-Up Strike, the union caucus that helped make it possible is setting out to transform locals still stuck in the mud. Their first step is to fight a new onslaught of layoffs, broken promises, and retaliation from CEOs. The reform caucus Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) held its first convention last weekend outside Detroit, with 150 UAW members, mostly auto workers but also from higher ed, legal services, and heavy equipment manufacturing. Shafarrah Hill, a Stellantis transport driver from a Detroit local, said she joined the convention after local officers did nothing about bullying by her supervisors. "My union steward has been telling me for two years,” she said, “that if I want to do something about it, I need to come to UAWD."

Trade Unions Find Their Place In Global Peace Efforts At ManiFiesta 2024

September 14, 2024 Ana Vracar, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
At ManiFiesta 2024, the trade union square was buzzing with activity for two full days. Belgian labor activists preparing for a demonstration on September 16 to protest job cuts at Audi’s Brussels factory shared the space with union members from across Europe—Dutch, Italian, German, and French activists all exchanging struggles and strategies. Under the tents, the General Federation of Belgian Labour (ABVV-FGTB) and the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (ACV-CSC), alongside the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), discussed campaigns to defend workers’ rights.

Can A National Strike Save A Closed Plant?

September 12, 2024 Sarah Lazare, In These Times. , , , , ,
Dawn Simms has been out of work for a year and a half. The Stellantis auto plant where she, her father and grandfather worked most of their adult years now sits idle, ringed with tall grass and weeds. Almost all of the members of her union, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1268, have been laid off, too, and the effects have rippled through the northern Illinois town of Belvidere, where restaurants have closed and business at others has slowed, as the need at food pantries has increased. It’s a familiar Rust Belt story, with a twist. Sitting in the union hall, a five minute drive from the shuttered plant, Simms does not talk like someone resigned to the loss of her livelihood or her home town’s vibrancy.

ManiFiesta Brings A Weekend Of Solidarity And Activism To Belgium

September 8, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , ,
Thousands are expected to gather in Ostend, Belgium, on September 7-8 for ManiFiesta, a festival of solidarity organized by a coalition of left organizations in the country. The event will mark the unofficial start of Belgium’s political season, bringing together activists, trade unionists, and political leaders to discuss some of the most pressing issues in Europe and the world today. ManiFiesta, organized by groups including Intal, Cubanismo, and Redfox, with the support of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB), consists of a mix of political discussions, cultural performances, and music. This year’s lineup includes performances by funk band Jamila & the Other Heroes, and rapper Lowkey.

Workers At Cornell Strike As Student Move-In Begins

August 19, 2024 Jimmy Jordan, The Ithaca Voice. , , , ,
Ithaca, N.Y. — For the first time in decades, workers at Cornell University are on strike. Thousands of students are scheduled to begin moving into Cornell’s campus on Monday for the fall semester, but workers on the night shift began to walk off the job Sunday, when the strike officially started at 10 p.m.. Workers are scheduled to picket on the university’s campus during student move-in day. The United Auto Workers (UAW) and Cornell University have been locked in tense labor contract negotiations since April. UAW Local 2300 represents a bargaining unit of about 1,200 workers at Cornell, the majority of which are cafeteria workers, custodians, and groundskeepers, whose current bargaining agreement with Cornell expired on July 1.

UAW Rips ‘Corporate Greed’ Of John Deere

July 31, 2024 Jake Johnson, Common Dreams. , , , ,
The United Auto Workers on Tuesday condemned the manufacturing company John Deere over recent mass layoffs at factories in Iowa and Illinois, arguing the company's strong profits, lavish handouts to investors, and exorbitant CEO pay give the lie to claims that the job cuts and outsourcing were necessary. "John Deere's reckless layoffs and job cuts are an insult to the working-class people of Iowa and Illinois, and the United Auto Workers will fight for justice for our members and communities affected by these moves," the union said in a statement. "Let's be clear: there is no need for Deere to kill good American jobs and outsource them to Mexico for cheap labor.

University Of California Workers On Strike For Right To Protest For Gaza

May 29, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , , , ,
On May 28, 12,000 student workers organized under United Auto Workers Local 4811, working at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) and UC Davis joined 2,000 union members already on strike at UC Santa Cruz. Workers representing United Auto Workers Local 4811 received a standing ovation at the People’s Conference for Palestine this past weekend, in honor of the union local taking the bold step in leading the first ever strike in US history in relation to Palestine solidarity. At the panel entitled “The Role of Labor Unions in the Palestinian Struggle,” workers received a standing ovation and chants of “UC, UC hear our call! 4811 will strike you all!”
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