UAWD Solidarity Letter: Democracy is Power

April 2021

To Friends of a Strong Labor Movement:

We are seeking your solidarity with workers’ once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform their union, the United Auto Workers (UAW). This fall, UAW members will vote whether to change their constitution so that every member will be allowed to vote for their top leaders: “one member, one vote.”

We are heartened and inspired by the work of Unite All Workers for Democracy—UAWD—a rank-and-file effort to bring democracy to our most important industrial union. If it passes, UAW members will be able to mount a genuine challenge to the Administration Caucus, the aptly named ruling party which has maintained its grip on power in the union for more than 70 years, and to hold their leaders accountable.

You may remember that it was when rank-and-file Teamsters were allowed to vote for the first time, in the early 1990s, that they elected Ron Carey as their president. Carey went on to lead the historic 1997 strike against UPS.

The UAW was once a militant and progressive union that wielded great power in American society. The 1936-37 Flint sit-down was “the strike heard ’round the world.” The UAW rapidly organized the auto industry, setting new standards for contracts and becoming a cornerstone of postwar working-class prosperity.

But lack of accountability and increased coziness with the Big Three automakers led to concessionary contracts, the much-hated two-tier system, and the failure to organize auto workers in the South. In recent years a multi-million-dollar corruption scandal has rocked the union, leading to the disgrace of

11 high-ranking UAW officials, including a sitting president and his predecessor.

It is that corruption that has led to the pending referendum on one member, one vote. The stakes are high, as outlined in this recent article by Nelson Lichtenstein.

Democracy is power, and a more powerful, democratic UAW—which now also encompasses an active and growing academic and non-industrial sector—could once again help lead the entire working class.

We urge you to join us in solidarity with workers who are organizing to pass “one member, one vote,” and to make a financial contribution to their cause. 

The heavily resourced Administration Caucus will attempt to convince members that they don’t need one member, one vote or, worse, that nothing they do matters anyway. To reach all 400,000 members and 600,000 retiree voters, UAWD needs solidarity from supporters like you.

Together, we can rebuild the labor movement that we urgently need.

In solidarity,

Eric Blanc, author, Red State Revolt 

Mike Davis, author, Prisoners of the American Dream 

Meagan Day, journalist, Jacobin Magazine 

Steve Early, former CWA International Representative and labor author

Bill Fletcher, former Assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

Robin D. G. Kelley, Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, UCLA

Nelson Lichtenstein, author, Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit

Peter Olney, former ILWU Organizing Director*

Ken Paff, Teamsters for a Democratic Union National Organizer*

Paul Schrade, former member, UAW International Executive Board

Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes*

*Organization listed for identification purposes only.

P.S. Please donate today. UAW members expect to be voting by September.