Summary of UAWD’s May 2023 Special Membership Meeting

by | May 16, 2023 | UAWD Membership Meetings | 0 comments

Below is a summary of UAWD’s Special Membership Meeting on May 7, 2023. This meeting was called for by a resolution at our March UAWD Membership Meeting, which set its purpose: “To establish UAWD strategic and organizational priorities, in order to provide direction to our Steering Committee, Organizing Committee, and staff for 2023 and beyond”

We discussed resolutions submitted by UAWD members and passed five resolutions:

  1. Big 3 Contract Campaign
  2. UAWD Mexico Solidarity & Strategic Engagement, which was amended as follows:
    a) Include the following: “UAWD shall call on the UAW to honor the life of Cleto Nigmo Urbina, a Ford worker at the Cuautitlan Mexico assembly plant who, on January 8, 1990, was shot and killed by hired thugs in response to a heroic campaign by him and his co-workers aimed at replacing the pro-company union with a democratic, fighting union to better fight Ford for better wages and working conditions.”
    b) Change the word “shall” to “may” in the following sentence: “UAWD officials may shall endeavor to visit the aforementioned Mexican worker centers and unions organizing in the auto sector to strengthen partnerships with Mexican unionists, share useful company information, and offer organizing support, including by inviting Mexican union representatives to bargaining conventions and other major UAWD meetings.”
  3. Encouraging the Creation of Local UAWD Chapters at Manufacturing-based Locals, which was amended as follows:
    a) Replace every instance of “local” in the resolution with “local or regional.”
  4. UAWD Leadership Training
  5. Campaign for 30 Hours Work for 40 Hours Pay, which was amended as follows:
    a) Replace the title with “30 Hours of Work for 40 Hours of Pay,” instead of “40 Hours of Work for 30 Hours of Pay.”
    b) Edit the second paragraph of the resolution to read “UAWD, led by our Education Committee, will organize a hybrid in-person and online conference on this topic for the upcoming contract, including relevant topics relating to the EV transition, work-week scheduling, and other relevant contract demands.”


We encourage members to get involved in the UAWD committees that will be tasked with following through on this exciting set of priorities and projects. Email UAWD at [email protected] to learn more about or join any of the following committees:

  1. The Organizing Committee is currently focusing on the Big 3 Contract Campaign (per the resolution passed in this meeting). This is a space for UAWD members and supporters (particularly those in the Big 3) to share your successes and challenges in organizing, receive support and advice from others in UAWD, and help set UAWD’s organizational strategy around the 2023 contract fight. The Organizing Committee will also assist members, with a focus on those in manufacturing locals, in forming UAWD local or regional chapters (per the resolution passed in this meeting) for the purpose of building democratic power among members at the local level and grounding our organization in shop-floor issues.
  2. The International Solidarity Committee is forming (per the resolution passed in this meeting) to research and build support for the demand that the UAW develop a strategic plan for engagement with the Mexican independent union movement. The International Solidarity Committee will also aim to itself facilitate rank-and-file, worker-to-worker conversations with independent, democratic organizing unions and worker centers in Mexico.
  3. The Education Committee is currently focusing on creating educational materials and venues for discussion and debate around demands that Big 3 workers are fighting for in the next contracts, such as “30 for 40” (per the resolution passed in this meeting). The Education Committee is also committed to creating a leadership development training series (per the resolution passed in this meeting) to give “members the tools they need to be successful with the various aspects of union administration, grievance handling, organizing, and all of the features of a progressive union that empowers the membership.”

 

Thank you to all members who participated in May’s Membership Meeting! UAWD’s next Membership Meeting will be held in July.