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United Auto Workers (UAW)

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!”

UAW Admits Digital Heavy, Organizing Committee Light Approach Failed Them

May 27, 2024 Mike Elk, Payday Report. , , , , , ,
Rather than using traditional organizing committee structures, the UAW relied heavily on digital meetings, a light staff approach from the international union, and getting workers to sign union cards via QR codes. Given the positive media coverage of the UAW in the “Stand Up Strike,” many UAW leaders were confident they could win using this approach. After filing with 70%, the UAW believed they would maintain their margin and win at similar margins to the 73% victory of UAW workers in Chattanooga. However, the UAW lost 44%-56% in Alabama amid charges that the company used backroom manipulation tactics against workers.

When Stellantis Fired Temps At Toledo Jeep, We Marched On Management

May 24, 2024 Benjamin Hinsey, Labor Notes. , , , , ,
After we struck for six weeks last fall and won a contract that promised a path to seniority, auto workers are being screwed over again by Stellantis. The firings were a one-two punch. First, in January, Stellantis terminated 500 temp workers—“supplementals” in the company’s jargon—in Kokomo, Indiana, and at a parts sequencing facility near its Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. Then in March, the mass firings expanded to 341 temp workers at the Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio, where I work making Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators, one of the plants that launched the Stand-Up Strike. Workers got the news that they were terminated via text message.

Casino Workers Are Fighting For The Air They Breathe

May 17, 2024 Kim Kelly, In These Times. , , , , ,
Rome burned to the ground almost 2,000 years ago, but Caesar’s Palace in Atlantic City, N.J.,is still smoking. The sprawling casino, hotel and entertainment complex is a holdover from the city’s mid-century glory days, where a visitor can still slurp down a shrimp cocktail and gamble to their heart’s content — and in some parts of the casino, light up a cigarette or a stogie and chain smoke the night away. When New Jersey passed its Smoke-Free Air Act in 2006, casinos were a notable exemption. Now, Atlantic City’s casino workers, with help from the United Auto Workers, are fighting to close the loophole and clean up the air in their workplaces.

Progressive Organizations Host Pro-UAW Rally In Tuscaloosa

May 6, 2024 Chance Phillips, Alabama Political Reporter. , , , , ,
With the union election at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa set to start next Monday, both Mercedes and the United Auto Workers are redoubling their efforts to sway employees to their sides. On Sunday, progressive advocacy organizations More Perfect Union and the Poor People’s Campaign held a rally at the Christian Community Church of Tuscaloosa, following a Saturday rally at Avondale Brewing Company in Birmingham. The several dozen attendees, including pro-UAW Mercedes employees and their families, were provided free barbecue, buttons, stickers, and t-shirts.

We Need To Strike For Palestine: Why UAW 4811 Matters

May 1, 2024 Mary Jirmanus Saba, Mondoweiss. , , , ,
Workers across the U.S. labor movement, including the United Auto Workers (UAW), are mobilizing for Palestine. From the strong resolutions passed at Ford UAW Local 551 (representing workers at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant), to UAW 4811 at UC Berkeley’s resolution to commit union resources to make Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) a bargaining demand, to the historic vote from the UAW International Executive Board (IEB) last November to investigate the union’s ties to Israel’s apartheid regime, workers in the U.S. are advancing the demands of their Palestinian allies.

Southern Autoworkers’ Union Drives Can Reverse Decades Of Job Decline

May 1, 2024 Marc Bayard and Dev Wakeley, Inequality.org. , , , , , ,
The United Auto Workers recently scored the largest union victory in decades in the South. Their success at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant could be a turning point for labor in a region long known for governmental hostility to unions. The next test will be a UAW election scheduled for the week of May 13 at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama, a state that has attracted so much auto investment it has earned the nickname “the Detroit of the South.” If the roughly 5,000 Mercedes workers vote to unionize, the ripple effects could empower workers nationwide.

May Day 2028 Could Transform The Labor Movement And The World

May 1, 2024 Shawn Fain, In These Times. , , , , , ,
Members of the United Auto Workers courageously fought corporate greed at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis last fall during the historic six-week Stand-Up Strike. Because of their determination and commitment, we won record contracts with the Big Three automakers. After decades of falling behind, UAW autoworkers are finally moving forward again. We made a lot of ambitious demands at the bargaining table. One in particular may not have gotten the same attention as the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments or the reopening of the Stellantis assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill. — but it could also prove transformational: We aligned our contracts to expire at midnight on April 30, 2028.

UAW’s Chattanooga Victory: Score One For The North In Our Endless Civil War

April 23, 2024 Harold Meyerson , Portside. , , , , , , ,
History—good history, if conditional history—was made last Friday in Chattanooga, as workers at Volkswagen’s factory there voted to join the United Auto Workers by an overwhelming margin of 2,628 to 985, a 73 percent to 27 percent landslide. The vote was historic on any number of counts. It marks the UAW’s first successful unionization of a foreign-owned auto factory after a number of failed attempts; it marks the first unionization in many decades of a major group of workers in the non-union South; it may even mark the rebirth of a powerful union movement, something the nation has lacked over the past 40 years.

UAW Wins Organizing Election At Volkswagen Tennessee Plant

April 20, 2024 Luke Ramseth, Portside. , , , , ,
United Auto Workers achieved a historic organizing victory Friday night at a Volkswagen AG plant in Tennessee plant as workers voted overwhelmingly to join the union following a three-day election. The vote count was 2,628-985, according to unofficial results released by the automaker, the union and a National Labor Relations Board tally posted on X. "Volkswagen Chattanooga workers voted in favor of union representation in their workplace this week," the automaker said in a statement. "The vote was administered through a democratic, secret ballot vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. ... We will await certification of the results by the NLRB. Volkswagen thanks its Chattanooga workers for voting in this election."
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