This resolution was passed at the January 2025 Quarterly Membership Meeting via Zoom on January 19, 2025.
Resolution: Staff Guidelines for Engagement in a Democratic, Member-led UAWD
Submitted by Ivan Eguigure (Local 7902), Dawnya Ferdinandsen (Local 14), Andrew Bergman (Local 22), Nolan Tabb (Local 281), Mike Cannon (Local 282), Judy Wraight (Local 600), Logan Ausherman (Local 7), Derek M (Local 212), Toly Rinberg (Local 22), Danielle Kelly (Local 600)
Whereas, UAWD should be a democratic, member-led organization, with member-leaders on the Steering Committee (SC) and an informed, engaged UAWD membership that independently and democratically determines our path.
Whereas, UAWD should aspire to the goals of empowering the UAWD membership, developing collective strategy, and training the next generation of rank-and-file leaders; while staff have been and will continue to be an important part of UAWD’s success, to avoid becoming a top-down, staff-led organization, the role of UAWD staff must be to use their knowledge and abilities to facilitate that path, directed by our member-leaders.
Whereas, a prior version of this resolution was introduced to last year’s UAWD Annual Meeting in October, with language nearly identical to the text below, and was not taken up due to time constraints, but it received 50 votes in favor and 18 votes against in the pre-meeting poll.
Whereas, a majority of the UAWD SC, in a party-line vote taken on December 13, 2024 without consulting the UAWD membership, pushed through a staff guidelines document that varies significantly from the original draft of the staff guidelines and has still never been shared with the membership; it omits key issues and includes undemocratic provisions that allow staff to:
- campaign to get UAWD members to support a position or SC candidate at a membership meeting;
- develop plans and policies with elected IEB members and UAW staff, with the only requirement that they notify the SC afterward;
- engage fully in debate at membership and SC meetings; and
- avoid working with SC members and other UAWD members that they don’t agree with.
Whereas, detailed suggestions were made to remedy these issues by a minority of the Steering Committee, and they were disregarded by the Steering Committee majority.
Be it resolved, UAWD shall adopt the policy, written in-full below, as our “Staff Guidelines for Engagement” within our organization, replacing the staff guidelines adopted by the SC, and any changes to these guidelines shall be approved by the UAWD membership before adoption.
Be it further resolved, the UAWD Steering Committee shall draft a full “UAWD Staff Manual,” which shall include the “Staff Guidelines for Engagement” and at least the following sections:
- Pay and Benefits, including subsections on: Pay amount and schedule, Benefits
- Responsibilities and Expectations, including subsections on: Regular meetings, UAWD database management, Google Drive management, Weekly workload, Organization-wide responsibilities, Local organizing responsibilities
Staff Guidelines for Engagement
Reporting structure
UAWD staff report to the UAWD Chair. Staff work is overseen by the Chair and and Steering Committee (SC), who are the elected member-leaders of UAWD. Staff will receive direction from different SC members, referred to as Point People, for each of the different operational and strategic scopes of work that they are assigned to. General staff responsibilities when working within a given scope are listed in the Structure for UAWD Steering Committee Accountability. Staff should report any issues about capacity or direction they are given to the Chair, who is responsible for working with the rest of the SC to settle issues.
The Steering Committee is responsible for evaluating staff work on a regular basis and suggesting corrective measures.
Other engagement with the Steering Committee
UAWD staff are expected to attend SC meetings unless, as stated above, they request and are given permission to be excused. The role of UAWD staff at SC meetings is to share insight from their organizing contacts and experience.
UAWD staff are not members of the SC, and they should not engage in debate at SC meetings, the SC Slack, or elsewhere. Their role is to facilitate the will of the SC, using the knowledge gained through their role as staff organizers, not to seek to influence the will of the SC or its members. Groups of SC members may develop political or strategic proposals amongst themselves or with other UAWD members, as part of a democratic deliberation. Staff should not participate in this political or strategic proposal development, or develop strategy in exclusive channels with particular members, unless instructed to do so by the SC as a whole.
When UAWD staff are tasked by the SC with implementing new platforms for logistics and tracking, they are expected to train SC members on how to utilize the tools (i.e. Airtable). This training should be overseen by the Point Person responsible for the platform.
Engagement in UAWD membership spaces
UAWD staff are not members of UAWD. Their role in membership spaces is to provide information and context, as directed by the SC, not to engage in discussion or debate as UAWD members.
Staff should not be involved in organizing UAWD members to take positions at UAWD membership meetings or about resolutions being discussed or debated at these meetings. This includes, but is not limited to, asking members to make or withdraw a motion, encouraging members to support or oppose a motion or political position, or encouraging members to implement a particular procedural tactic. If an SC member instructs a staff person to engage in such a way, they should notify the rest of the SC.
Further, staff should not be publicly debating or privately organizing around particular political or strategic directions for UAWD. Their role is to take direction from the SC, who are accountable to the UAWD membership, to implement the political and strategic choices the membership have made.
If there is a sensitive matter that a staff person learns about, which they feel needs to be addressed with a UAWD member, they should notify the Chair, especially if addressing it would violate another provision in this section. The Chair, who is accountable to the UAWD membership, can then determine if and how to reach out to the UAWD member in question.
Engagement with International UAW elected officials and staff
UAWD staff should not be in communication with International UAW elected officials or staff about UAWD or UAW business, unless they are directly instructed to do so by the Chair or SC. For any such communications that are directed, staff should be regularly reporting updates to the Chair or SC. These communications should be confined to specific campaigns or initiatives that are overseen by the SC. If there is any tension or uncertainty during these communications, they should be passed off to the Chair, who will work with the rest of the SC to further delegate the communications, if needed.
Political relationships and outreach shall be directed by the Chair and the SC. Any outreach to UAWD staff by International UAW elected officials or staff shall be promptly reported to the SC, who will make a determination about how to proceed.
Engagement with UAWD Committees
Staff may be tasked by the Chair or the SC to support Committee work. This may be ongoing support, for example in the case of the Communications and Organizing Committees, or temporary support during specific campaigns, either as directed by a membership resolution or directly by the SC. In their support role, staff are expected to be in touch with the Point Person for the committee, as well as the co-chairs of the committee, on a regular basis.