Historical Archive
Historical Articles
UAWD in the News: Battery Jobs Must Be Good-Paying Union Jobs, Says New UAW President
Dan DiMaggio writes for Labor Notes: Contracts covering 150,000 auto workers at the Big 3 will expire on September 14, and the new leadership of the United Auto Workers is taking a more aggressive stance than in years past. “We’re going to launch our biggest contract...
UAWD in Labor Notes: Whose Green Transition? Ours!
Keith Brower Brown writes for Labor Notes: New reform leaders in the United Auto Workers, the largest manufacturing union in the country, are organizing for a national strike this fall—in part to unionize electric car-making, batteries and all. Beyond the workplace,...
UAWD in the News: Can the UAW Rise Again?
Alex Press reported for Jacobin from the 2023 Bargaining Convention: Shawn Fain, a local UAW official from Kokomo, Indiana, ran for president on a slate called UAW Members United. The slate was backed by Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), an internal caucus that...
UAWD in the News: UAW Ready to Play Hardball, New President Tells Detroit 3
Joseph Szczesny writes for Wards Auto: On his first day in office, the UAW’s new president, Shawn Fain, vowed the union will change direction on his watch. [...] Younger workers, who have become part of the UAWD (Unite All Workers for Democracy) caucus, which...
UAWD in the News: How UAW’s transforming itself ahead of contract talks with automakers
Jamie L. LaReau and Eric D. Lawrence write for the Detroit Free Press: For the first time, the UAW has a leader elected by the rank-and-file. On Saturday, Shawn Fain was declared the winner over incumbent President Ray Curry in a runoff election. On Sunday, Fain was...
UAW Monitor Calls Election for Shawn Fain—UAW Members United Sweeps IEB Elections!
The UAW Monitor has called the election for Shawn Fain! Shawn will be the next President of the UAW, and reformers will gain majority control of the UAW International Executive Board for the first time in history. A new day is dawning for our union. The unofficial...
UAWD in In These Times: Challenger Shawn Fain Set to Win UAW Presidency
Steven Greenhouse interviewed Shawn Fain, candidate for UAW President, for In These Times: Challenger Shawn Fain is set to win a historic runoff election for the presidency of the United Auto Workers (UAW), likely defeating incumbent Ray Curry in a nail-biting finish....
UAWD in Jacobin: UAW Reform Candidate Shawn Fain Is Set to Win the Union’s Presidential Election
Jane Slaughter and Luis Feliz Leon write for Jacobin: “Shawn Fain ran a campaign on the promise of true reform in the UAW,” said Justin Mayhugh, a General Motors worker at the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City and a member of Unite All Workers for Democracy...
UAWD on the Air: Vote count for UAW president nearing end with Fain holding slim lead
Rod Meloni and Cassidy Johncox covered the UAW election for WDIV Local 4: [Shawn] Fain is from a group known as UAW Members United, which challenged sitting President Curry in the first direct UAW election in 87 years. On Friday, March 17, Fain’s UAW Members United...
UAWD in The Intercept: United Auto Workers on Brink of Unprecedented Leadership Upset
Daniel Boguslaw writes for The Intercept: In a historic election that could dramatically reshape the 400,000-member United Auto Workers union, insurgent challenger Shawn Fain currently leads incumbent Ray Curry by a margin of 645 votes for the union’s top leadership...
UAWD in In These Times: What Today’s Labor Reformers Can Learn From a Rank-and-File Coal Miners’ Victory 50 Years Ago
Steve Early writes for In These Times: Today, at a time when labor militants are again embracing a “rank-and-file strategy” to revitalize unions and change their leadership, the MFD’s unprecedented victory — and its turbulent aftermath — remains relevant and...
UAW Monitor Releases Rules for the 2023 Runoff
On December 14, 2022, the UAW Monitor released the official rules for the UAW international officer runoff elections in 2023. After the general election results, UAW Members United candidates Shawn Fain will advance to the runoff election for President and Daniel...
White Shirt Day and “The Birth of a Union”
White Shirt Day was started in 1948 by Sit-Down Striker Bert Christensen, as a way to remind the younger workers just what the veterans had gone through to win them health care, job security, paid vacations, and pensions. During the strike, GM cut off the heat in the...
UAW History: League of Revolutionary Black Workers Forced Change in the Auto Industry, UAW
Back in the 1960s, as the Civil Rights movement spread through American cities large and small and discussions of the use of Black Power multiplied, Detroit’s auto factories -- and within the UAW -- became the focus of protests by the Black working class. Read the...
Mike Parker Knew Not to Trust the Boss
In the 1980s, corporations began promoting "quality of work life" and "lean production" schemes as a win-win for workers and bosses. But autoworker Mike Parker insisted these schemes were about better exploiting workers and undermining solidarity. Read the article...
‘Life of public service’: Longtime Latino congressman Esteban Torres dies at 91
Former Rep. Esteban Torres, a California Democrat who served eight terms in the House and built a legacy of public service focused on advancing Latino representation, died on Tuesday. He was 91. Before his political career, Torres served as an activist in his United...
Rest in Power Mike Parker, 1940-2022
Mike Parker, the author of four Labor Notes books and a close supporter and key strategist throughout our 43-year history, died January 15 of pancreatic cancer. He will be hugely missed—remembered as a brilliant thinker, a humble and dedicated movement-builder, and a...
Mike Parker: A Labor Educator with Impact
Parker's book-- Inside the Circle -- acknowledged that employer invitations to “participate” were often quite well received, initially, because they appealed to “workers’ best instincts—to do a good job, to be part of a group, to make a contribution.” Historically, he...
The UAW leader who helped MLK tie organized labor to broader civil rights movement
Strassel says both King and Reuther saw connections between the civil rights and labor movements, including shared priorities on issues like right to work and fair wages. Reuther's support for King started at an early point in his career. “Reuther put the resources...
85 years ago today, Flint Sit-Down Strike started, forcing recognition of the UAW
Eighty-five years ago today, Flint autoworkers seized control of the General Motors body plant where they worked, refusing to leave for 44 days and forcing the company to recognize the United Auto Workers, a critical moment in the history of the organized labor...
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“Running the Plant Backwards” in UAW Region 5
