Keith Brower Brown (Local 2865) and Jane Slaughter write for Labor Notes about the 2023 Bargaining Convention:
The UAW’s Bargaining Conventions are held every four years as the “Big 3” automaker contracts near expiration. They are intended for locally elected delegates to guide the hand of the union’s bargaining teams, at least officially. In practice, bargaining conventions have typically placed a lukewarm rubberstamp on a 50-page “omnibus” resolution of vague bargaining goals passed down by leaders.
After raucous debate and a big bump in strike pay (to $400 a week) made headlines at last July’s constitutional convention, reformers hoped this convention would set militant goals. But with new leaders fully taking office just a day before the convention, delegates had to start from bargaining resolutions assembled under direction of the outgoing officials.
On tiers, delegates approved a sweeping resolution calling on leaders to “reject management proposals which seek to divide the membership through tiered wages (or) benefits,” with an “obligation to seek the elimination of all such tiers.” The official resolution adopted this language verbatim from a July constitutional amendment offered by the UAWD caucus.
The strong rejection of tiers reflected widespread outrage among auto workers. Luigi Gjokaj, a delegate from Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly, said, “The elephant in the room is a huge part of us don’t get a pension or retirement health care anymore, for the same job.” Dan Maloney, a local president from a New York auto parts plant, said, “It’s time for us to get rid of the two-tier system. I look forward to us getting that done in this round of bargaining.”
Delegates approved a few proposals brought from the floor, continuing the spirit of democracy newly evident at the July convention. With broad support in voice votes, UAWD resolutions passed that will demand the contractual right not to cross the picket lines of other unions, and move towards a wall-to-wall organizing strategy in higher education.