Joel Benefield, Local 230

Member Spotlight is a new segment of the Region 6 Newsletter that profiles members from different Region 6 Locals and organizing campaigns each month. Get to know your fellow UAW members from across many industries and states!  

Hello, Region 6 siblings! My name is Joel Benefield, out of UAW Local 230. I work as a picker on the floor at a parts distribution center in Ontario, CA. My job is to pick and pack the car parts that car dealerships across our region use to maintain all kinds of vehicles. To put it plainly, we keep vehicles across the region running – without pickers like me and my coworkers, no cars would be able to get fixed or maintained.

Getting involved in our union was a way for me to find a sense of purpose, and I’m especially passionate about getting the younger crowd in my workplace and the auto sector involved and engaged in the labor movement! As the Sergeant-At-Arms of my Local, I help maintain order during union meetings to facilitate productive discussions, and I’m also helping develop membership education opportunities to engage members at my Local and across our Region on the history of organized labor & the UAW.

For next month’s newsletter, I’m handing off the spotlight to Bia Cáffe from the Washington State University - Coalition of Academic Student Employees (WSU-CASE) campaign!