How members are building power to win record contracts
Dear UAW Sibling,
Whether bargaining a first contract at a newly organized workplace or the 20th contract in an established unit, members in Region 6 know that power moves the process. What we can win in bargaining is a direct function of how much power we can build, where that power is most fundamentally rooted in active, widespread member participation. Across the Region and across industries, members have long been building bargaining strategies that put these principles into action through assertive, escalating contract campaigns – and the results speak for themselves, with historic victory after historic victory. The most effective contract campaigns begin with concerted member-to-member organizing and structure-building well before negotiations start. Upcoming contract campaigns across the Region are critical opportunities to both win major improvements now and to build towards UAW President Shawn Fain’s call to align contract expirations in preparation for mass worker action on May Day 2028.
In this month’s newsletter, you’ll find perspectives from members involved in recent and ongoing contract campaigns about specific strategies they’ve used to engage high member participation, build political power, and win historic agreements. You’ll also find information on how you can support the UAW 509 strike at Monogram; job openings at the UAW Center for Manufacturing a Green Economy; a message from Region 6 Director Mike Miller on political action; and a summary of upcoming meetings & conferences.
Support Striking Members at Monogram Aerospace
UAW 509 members at Monogram Aerospace Fasteners are on the fourth week of their strike, fighting for a new contract with livable wages and affordable healthcare. In the months leading up to the contract expiration, 509 members built a participatory contract campaign that engaged fellow members across Monogram – including through a series of unit meetings to discuss bargaining priorities, recruiting Contract Action Teams (CATs), regular membership updates, rallies, and more. When the contract expired on August 3 and management had still not agreed to fair terms, the strike began. Members are prepared to continue the strike – and continue standing up to corporate greed – until they win a livable future for themselves and their families.
Three ways you can support striking 509 members today:
Amplify the visibility of the strike by sharing posts on social media with messages of solidarity. Remember to tag @uawregion6!
Contribute to the hardship fund – everything helps.
Join picket line at 3423 Garfield Ave, Commerce, CA 90040. Sign up for shifts to help picket captains coordinate.
Help build a worker-led climate justice movement
The UAW Center for Manufacturing a Green Economy is hiring!
Help drive forward a worker-led transition to a green economy with the UAW Center for Manufacturing a Green Economy (UAW-CMGE)! UAW-CMGE is hiring for two positions: Community Director and Workplace Development Director. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
UAW-CMGE is leading the UAW’s recruitment and training for careers in climate manufacturing, empowering workers with skills training to meet the growing needs of EV/battery manufacturing operations. Bringing a new standard of training to the green economy, UAW-CMGE not only provides workers with knowledge of new green manufacturing technologies, but does so with a worker-centered approach that amplifies the voices and needs of workers and communities most impacted by climate change. UAW-CMGE is driving forward a just transition towards new, diverse, climate industries in which workers and communities can thrive. An investment in the workers driving the energy transition is an investment in the American climate economy.
Building Power to Win Big in Bargaining
Activating High Member Participation: What are specific strategies members across Region 6 are using to increase member participation in bargaining, and how is that creating more leverage in negotiations?
Juan Figueroa, UAW 509 Chairperson, Senior Aerospace SSP
In June, UAW Local 509 members of Senior Aerospace SSP were able to win a great new contract. Pay raises of 6%-6%-6% (the highest ever in our unit’s history), doubling of Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), and a reduction of mandatory weekend overtime were just some of the victories for the Union. The historic success of our campaign was thanks to the full support and participation of the membership at SSP, where we have about 400 members.
We kicked off the campaign with a membership handshake and BBQ and rally outside the plant to coincide with the beginning of bargaining. The Mayor of Burbank, Nick Schultz, came and spoke to the membership as well, inspiring all of us to fight for our goals. We also organized Red shirt Wednesdays and Black shirt Fridays, when everyone wore their Local 509 shirt. As the contract deadline approached, the membership held daily lunchtime rallies to show management that members were active and backing up the bargaining team. The day before the contract expired, over 150 members participated in a practice picket, showing the company we meant business and were ready to strike.
With this pressure on them, management was forced to make concessions to the Union to avoid a strike. The escalation of a credible strike threat made a huge impact, and helped us win a historic contract in 4 weeks. We thank Director Mike Miller and Education Rep Sam Sumpter for their assistance in the campaign.
Madison Boynton, UAW 1115/CAPS, California State Environmental Scientist
What pollutants are in your local lake or beach? Check How’s My Waterway! My name is Madison Boynton, and as a CAPS-UAW1115 Environmental Scientist, I wrangle statewide water quality data to support the Clean Water Act 303(d) List requirements. After being without a contract for over three years, my colleagues and I just overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new contract that includes raises (especially to the pay ceiling), a 100% transit subsidy, an audit of classification titles expected to result in long-awaited gender-equity corrections, and loads more benefits. In addition, by switching to State Disability Insurance (SDI), more scientists are eligible for more leave for more reasons with more pay!
These wins are all thanks to our efforts to take a member-driven approach to bargaining, which is different from how we’ve bargained in the past. We knew that to get through the state’s stalling, we would need to activate widespread member participation.
We built a Contract Action Team (CAT) to help mobilize a significant escalating campaign, including a 3-day historic strike, countless conversations with legislators, an increase in social media and news coverage, weekly solidarity breaks, formal trainings by the late Jane McAlevey and her associates, internally-guided organizing trainings, wall charting, activation of Contract Action Team activists and organizers, and our first-known membership meeting! In the summer, we organized a majority-signed photo petition through many 1-1 conversations and solidarity breaks (weekly unit-level gatherings). We then hand-delivered it to agency secretaries and Governor Newsom’s office in a clear show of members’ unity and resolve.
CAPS-UAW 1115 has been going through a massive growth spurt since Fall 2023, and our organizing education, unification, and action mobilization are paying off. The growing pains flare up from time to time, but our collective strength has prevailed, and we’re resolute in continuing to build.
Ashton Pressman, UOSW, Dining Worker at University of Oregon
My name is Ashton, I’m a dining worker at the University of Oregon, a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major, a proud member of our union’s bargaining team, and a lead negotiator for our first contract. Our union, UO Student Workers (UOSW), represents over 3,500 student workers wall-to-wall and we’re currently bargaining our first contract. We knew going into negotiations that worker participation was a core source of our power, but prior to starting negotiations, management tried to bar our coworkers from participating in bargaining sessions.
We jumped into action and beat back management’s efforts to stall by organizing 1,450 fellow student workers to sign onto a petition. In addition to using the petition as a reason to talk to more workers about bargaining, we also used this organizing effort as an opportunity to identify and find more workplace leaders across the unit. We collected signatures over three weeks and delivered the petition to the President’s office with a delegation of student workers. We saw the power of the action almost immediately – the next day at our first bargaining session, the University agreed that bargaining would be open to the public.
Now, in the weeks leading up to our sessions, we try to blitz our workplaces in person in order to get turnout. After every session so far, at least one worker has come up to me to talk about the articles we’ve presented and how surprised and angered they are by management's behavior at the table. By having our members in the room, management is increasingly uncomfortable and aware of the power that our union holds.
Shruteek Mairal, CGPU, Chemical Engineering Grad Worker at Caltech
A strategy I've been practicing for engaging my coworkers to participate in bargaining has been to actively integrate my coworkers' perspectives and issues during our organizing conversations. Rather than just pitching a solution to their problem immediately, a common question I ask is, "what do you think should be done?" Then, we connect the dots and land on a shared language to build grad and postdoc power at Caltech.
For example, when I was discussing rampant campus harassment with several Chemistry grads recently, most were hesitant to share any experiences or convey support, but one of them suggested looking at a small recent initiative that tackles the same issue. Once I asked them for more details and incorporated their ideas, they became much more engaged in our back-and-forth. This lab had never organized to show up together to any union event, but within a week, I saw them rallying alongside hundreds of us, and chanting "What's disgusting? Union busting! What's appalling? Title IX stalling!" After that action, we won two-year initial appointments (aka two-year initial visas) for postdocs, and industry-leading protections against discrimination and abusive conduct protections!
At their core, everyone wants to be heard – and by actively listening during grassroots organizing, we can channel all our voices and energy to win our union and our first contract.
UAW to Stellantis: KEEP THE PROMISE! How have members won contract language that helps create more leverage into the future? How are members organizing to enforce historic wins?
Sarah Smith, Local 492, Stellantis Parts Distribution
Region 6 is honored to have members from Education and Aerospace, to Parts and Manufacturing, and everything in between. In the auto sector here, there are multiple MOPAR Parts Depots that received transfers from the now infamous Belvidere Assembly Plant, a plant in Illinois that Stellantis indefinitely idled in 2023, impacting more than two thousand members and the entire community in Belvidere. Thanks to the power of the Big 3 Stand Up Strike, members won contract provisions that Stellantis would re-open Belvidere and that members have the right to strike over product and investment commitments. But on the same day the Democratic National Convention opened, Stellantis informed the UAW they did not plan to follow through on the agreements laid out in the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
After almost a full year of celebrating the gains we made with the Big 3, this announcement felt like a major blow for those that still had hope to return to their home plant. That evening on the DNC Stage, President Fain took to the stage and made his statement clear on several points, namely, "Stellantis must keep the promises they made to America in our union contract. The UAW will take whatever action necessary at Stellantis or any other corporation to stand up and hold corporate America accountable."
In response to Stellantis' announcement, that same week a "Keep the Promise" rally was held in Belvidere at Local 1268, where members had a platform to come together and address their concerns directly. The rally included President Fain as well Regional Directors including Region 6's own Mike Miller, who says: "We rallied at Local 1268 to keep the heat on Stellantis to honor their commitment to re-open the Belvidere Assembly plant. The energy and determination from Local 1268 members and the surrounding community inspires me to believe that we will succeed in holding Stellantis to their promise in bargaining.”
Stellantis Locals around the nation have been called upon to file grievances with the company in the midst of their claims that they were not canceling plans in Belvidere, just delaying them. This year, Stellantis was intended to consolidate 3 MOPAR facilities that would move parts and workers to Belvidere to open a MOPAR "Mega-Hub". In addition to the MOPAR moves, they planned to bring Production back to the town in 2027 and a battery plant in 2028.
While the Company claims the language of Letter 311 covers room to let them make adjustments, it is clear that the issues at Stellantis are not economic slowdown. Ford and GM also signed record contracts with the UAW and have continued to post profits in the first half of the year.
UAW members are ready to keep organizing until Stellantis keeps the promise. Learn more and sign on in support on the website!
Building Political Power to Win Strong Contracts: How are members building and leveraging political power to win strong first contracts, and to expand worker rights beyond the bargaining table?
Lexy Aydelotte, UAW 4929 President, Western Washington University
At Western Washington University, we combined the power of student workers with strategic political action – and we won big. As a majority undergraduate union, we couldn’t simply organize in our workplace; we also needed to pass a law that secured our right to collective bargaining. So we worked with pro-labor legislators to get it done. When the university tried to shortchange us at the bargaining table, we went on strike and won a historic first contract, including a groundbreaking tuition assistance program – directly tackling the issue of college affordability that affects working-class students nationwide.
But our efforts didn’t stop there. We knew how to organize for power, so we worked to pass a city-wide minimum wage increase of two dollars over two years that directly benefited both our members and workers across our community. When the university cited limited state funding as an obstacle, we came together with other campus unions for our "Expand the Pie" rally on Pi Day, demanding a fully-funded university. With our coalition and legislative allies, we showed the administration that our combined political and workplace power could secure the necessary funding.
Our victory is more than just a contract – it’s proof that when workers stand together, we can achieve what once seemed impossible. This is how we win: with solidarity, strategy, and the courage to demand more.
Message from Region 6 Director Mike Miller
Many UAW members across a wide range of perspectives, locations, and sectors ask me: why should the union be involved in politics? This is an important question, and it pertains to how we can best advance our agenda as workers, for workers. Political involvement takes many forms and unfolds in many parts of society. We may organize to win elections and ballot initiatives; take strategic direct action; fundraise to support people arrested for civil disobedience; organize mutual aid, strike kitchens, and hardship funds – and much much more. Everything we do and fight for as a union is political, because our lives as working people are intertwined with politics, whether we like it or not.
UAW members engage regularly in domestic politics on municipal, state, and federal levels, as well in global politics. For instance, UAW has a proud history of fighting to advance global solidarity and justice (the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the anti-Vietnam War movement, opposition to the School of the Americas, etc.), because working people are keenly attuned to the truth, expressed by Dr. King, that, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Today, UAW members continue this tradition, fighting in many ways to build systems that really deliver for all working people. In the U.S., tens of billions of dollars of public money that could be used to benefit the public good are instead being used to wage war around the world. Just this past year, the U.S. government has spent and approved tens of billions of dollars of public money in military aid to Israel, including $14 billion in April and an additional $20 billion this month. The atrocities committed with U.S. weapons in Gaza are appalling. And unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Public money is routinely spent to fund less prominent, but still devastating, conflicts around the world – with no clear benefit accruing to workers here or abroad. Similarly, in the 10 years since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. has spent more than $400 billion on immigration enforcement, including cruel family separations, systemic abuse of LGBTQ detainees, absurd border fencing, and more. None of this serves to address the real concerns and needs of immigrants and international workers, many of whom are UAW members. Imagine all the good that could be done if these billions of dollars were invested in programs that benefit working people.
Another major political issue for working people is reproductive freedom. In the past several years, the Supreme Court – a body entirely appointed by Presidents – has made decisions that dramatically limit the bodily autonomy of over half the population, most notably overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. This election cycle gives workers a real opportunity to turn the tides and proactively establish the right to choose through ballot initiatives in Arizona, Nevada, and many other states across the country.
Our direct working conditions are political too. Whether at a public institution or a private company, government standards impact our working conditions in many ways, including shaping the future of our work (funding for climate research, workforce standards attached to EV funding, etc) and establishing baseline standards our employers must minimally agree to (minimum wages, paid leaves, non-discrimination, health and safety, etc). What we can win in politics increases our leverage at the bargaining table.
There is no escaping politics: political decisions affect all of our lives. Getting involved with politics isn’t a matter of aligning with any specific political party or personality. It’s about building as much power as we can to win on the issues we care about as working people. In every campaign we consider, members evaluate the candidates based on how they align with our values and stand to advance our issues as a movement. From this issue- and movement-based perspective, we’ve endorsed candidates across party lines – Democrats, independents, Republicans, and socialists.
To those questioning why we get involved in politics, we must remember: the rich and well-connected already are. We, too, must be involved to counter the influence of corporate power and moneyed interests in the name of a better future for workers.
The more each member participates in our collective political work, the stronger we become, and the better equipped we are to advance a progressive agenda for all workers. I encourage all UAW Region 6 members to join our monthly Political Action meetings (third Saturdays at 10am on Zoom; RSVP here) and subregional workgroups in your area. Together we can make a difference in the upcoming elections! As always, if you have questions or feedback, please shoot me an email.
Upcoming Events
Region 6 Gender Justice & Civil Human Rights Committee: September 9 at 6pm via Zoom.
Region 6 Climate Justice Committee: August 27 from 6-7pm via zoom.
Region 6 Education & Communications Committee: September 20 from 12-1pm via zoom.
The Region 6 Education & Communications Conference is October 19-20 in Seattle, WA. Contact your Local for more information.
A number of conferences are upcoming at the UAW Family Education Center in Onaway, Michigan: Community Services Committee Conference (September 8-13), Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Conference (September 8-13), and Leadership Essentials Institute (October 6-11). Contact your Local for more information.
UAW Job Openings: Interested in finding a job working for your union? A number of positions are open in various departments and levels of the UAW, and UAW members are especially encouraged to apply. Find open positions and information about how to apply at the UAW Indeed site.
Stay Connected & Share Your Updates: The Region 6 Newsletter is produced by the Region 6 Education & Communications Committee (ECC). If you have updates or stories from your Local/Organizing Campaign to share in a future newsletter, email region6newsletter@uaw.net. For regular updates, check out Region 6 on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and our website. Not already receiving the Region 6 newsletter, or know someone else who isn’t? Fill out this form to subscribe!