UAW Members Get Out the Vote

Oct 30

Dear UAW sibling,

Through coordinated efforts at the Local and Regional levels, this fall, members have been building our most aggressive political program in decades and mobilizing our communities at a massive scale. Across every area of the Region, members are contacting hundreds of thousands of voters about electing candidates and winning initiatives to increase leverage for members’ issues: expanding reproductive rights, expanding collective bargaining rights, advancing immigrant justice, winning housing affordability, advancing climate justice, securing a ceasefire in Gaza and arms embargo on Israel, advancing LGBTQ justice, and more.

For instance, so far members have knocked on 30,000 doors and made 110,000 phone calls to voters in the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada about defeating Trump, electing pro-labor candidates to the Senate, and passing critical initiatives on abortion access, minimum wage, and ending forced labor. Through weekly phone banks, the Region 6 Gender, Civil, and Human Rights Committee has made more than 70,000 calls to women voters in Arizona to make voting plans. Members have sent 100,000 texts and emails to fellow UAW members and their families. Members in every state have knocked tens of thousands of doors and made hundreds of thousands of phone calls getting out the vote for critical local, state, and federal races. And this is all before the biggest voter outreach weekend of the season, coming up this weekend.

Keep reading below to learn directly from members across the Region about their experiences talking to voters, and why taking political action is so important for advancing workers’ issues. With only a week left before voting ends, every additional contact with voters makes a difference – RSVP here to join an upcoming Region 6 phonebank. You can also check out Region 6 endorsements here, and view a recording of yesterday’s Election 2024 Live Stream with President Fain here.

Updates from Across the Region

Bargaining: After 69 days on strike, Local 509 members at Monogram Aerospace ratified an historic new contract, including wage increases, lowered healthcare costs, language improvements, & no concessions from the union. Another unit of UAW 509 aerospace workers at Adel Wiggins are now gearing up for negotiations, and last week, ⅔ of the unit rallied to call for management to come to the table and bargain in good faith. Workers at Pardee RAND, USC, Caltech, and University of Oregon continue building power to win first contracts, with negotiations ongoing.

New Organizing: Multiple units hit new organizing milestones this month: Teachers and Staff at NYFA Los Angeles filed for their union with 69% support, and 4500 Student Services and Advising Professionals at University of California went public with their campaign to form a union, with a majority of the unit signed on to union authorization cards.

Education & Communications Conference: This month, more than 60 members from across the Region came together for the Education & Communications Conference in Seattle. Together, members learned new skills and frameworks for using comms and education to build member participation and leadership networks — including through 1-1 conversations, sharing personal stories, developing effective trainings, writing clear membership emails, and more. Members then put those new tools to use developing concrete plans around campaigns and efforts actively ongoing in their Locals and organizing campaigns. Interested in getting involved with this kind of work in your Local or campaign? Join the next R6 Ed & Comms Committee meeting, November 15, 12-1pm via zoom (RSVP here).

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Reports from the Field: Voter Outreach to Build Worker Power

Adam Arias, Local 509, Ford Rancho Cucamonga

During my time canvassing in Las Vegas, I had the unique opportunity to engage with the community by going door to door, having conversations with residents, and emphasizing the critical importance of supporting pro-labor candidates. Each interaction emphasized the values of advocating for policies that genuinely reflect the needs and rights of working people.

I got the chance to meet and talk to members from the UAW and the Culinary Workers Union. These individuals were kind, supportive, and deeply invested in these issues. Overall this experience was both humbling and eye-opening. These exchanges highlighted not only the solidarity within the community but also the shared hope for a better tomorrow.

The presence of organizations like the UAW serves as a powerful reminder of the strength in collective action. By standing with workers and advocating for fair labor practices, the UAW contributes to a vital movement for democracy and workers' rights. I am grateful for the chance to have been part of this effort and to witness firsthand the dedication of so many who believe in a fair and just future.

Adam Arias, Local 509, Ford Rancho Cucamonga

Gabe Avillon, Local 4811, UC San Francisco

While canvassing in Reno, I spoke with an undecided voter living with Type 1 diabetes. After he shared how important healthcare costs were to him, I told him about Vice President Harris’s plan to lower drug prices and cap insulin costs—not just for seniors but for all Americans. He was completely unaware of this plan, and by the end of our conversation, he was enthusiastic about voting for Harris. This experience is a powerful reminder of how essential groundwork is to inform and mobilize voters on issues that directly impact their lives.

Tia Chung-Swanson, Local 4811, UC Irvine

I went to canvass both in Las Vegas and Phoenix this fall. I asked voters to consider which candidates would help us create more union jobs and support our families. The choice is clear, and I'm really glad that I was able to talk with people about what is at stake in this election and how we can use it to build more power!

Dani Cotton, URFU-UAW, University of Southern California

Political organizing and labor organizing go hand in hand. Two years ago, UAW workers across Los Angeles helped elect union organizer and progressive candidate Hugo Soto-Martinez to City Council. When graduate student workers at USC were bargaining their first contract, Hugo helped apply political pressure so workers could win a neutral arbitration process for harassment claims; now, postdocs and grads at USC are building a progressive majority on LA City Council by supporting candidates like Ysabel Jurado to push for pro-labor and transit-friendly policies that align with our dire need for sustainable transportation. Only strong communities and strong unions will beat the bosses, and forging key political alliances ensures both!

Connor Eubank, Local 4811, UC Berkeley

It was inspiring getting to meet people who sincerely thanked me and the other canvassers for our time/work, as well as those who were excited about the prospect of their workplace unionizing. It reminded me just how much of an impact myself and my peers can have, and was tremendously uplifting. I felt like I had a voice and I was able to put my energy towards something productive and meaningful, especially given the dire context of this election season. My time in Reno also reminded me that workplace and labor rights and issues are inexorably linked to broader social and political events, like elections, which can oftentimes feel distant and abstract. It helped me feel connected to wider movements and efforts and was a really uplifting experience.

James Giller, Local 4811, UC Davis

I volunteered to go canvassing in Reno, Nevada with Seed the Vote because this election has profound implications for workers' ability to organize and improve quality of life for our families. Just like we contest abuses of power and negotiate better contracts in the workplace, it is vital that we oppose the anti-labor, authoritarian MAGA movement and support candidates who share our values and who we can later influence to implement policies that help working people. Canvassing was a great opportunity to connect with others on a human level during a time of extreme polarization and resentment. I was able to have a good discussion with someone who said they haven't spoken about politics with anyone in months due to feeling like most people are so negative or hateful in such discussions. I was also able to offer an ear to a formerly incarcerated person who felt like they weren't being listened to by either major party. Most of the people I spoke with shared the issues and aspirations we have as members of UAW 4811. Through canvassing, as with walkthroughs in the workplace, we can build political power for our union.

Kanie Kastroll, Local 3555, Wynn Las Vegas

GOTV is always important, but this year, the stakes couldn’t be any higher for human rights. Trump’s Project 2025 will weaken unions and workers’ rights by attacking the exact federal agencies that help WORKERS like all of us. If workers don’t have federal law protections, business owners and greedy corporations can get away with even more exploitative practices. Every worker should vote in favor of every pro-labor candidate and pro-labor proposition. We must vote as a strong block of workers together! Go vote like everything depends on it, because it does!

Lili Manzo, Local 4811, UC Irvine

Being from California, I am lucky to not be impacted by the overturn of Roe v Wade, and I am outraged that not all women have this same security. I am grateful that through our union, I had the opportunity to canvass in a swing state, fight for what I believe in, and make a difference in this election.

Michael Marszalek, Local 2162, General Motors Reno

This was my first experience with door-to-door canvassing, and I was excited to reach out and connect on the issues that are not only important to me, but affect us all as working people. I reassured my community that their voices and votes matter, and why each and every vote can bring us closer to a nation that protects our families and our people: keeping interracial and LGBTQ+ marriages legal, giving women rights to their own bodies and making abortions federally protected again, and making sure Project 2025 never comes to pass. All Americans, regardless of race, should be able to exist without fear of discrimination or mass imprisonment, a realistic fear if Donald Trump gets re-elected.

Amelia McCarthy, Local 1907, University of Alaska

Every facet of our lives, from housing to work conditions, is shaped by policy, so political action is a necessary facet of my commitment to union organizing. In Alaska, particularly in our union, state politics also have a direct impact on our ability to bargain and enforce strong contracts, from the votes to pass public sector CBAs in the legislature, to the political appointees in management, to state labor law.

Zora Mihaley, Local 4811, UC Irvine

Canvassing makes democracy feel real. You’re not just asking for a vote; you’re empowering voices. Traveling twice to Arizona this election season cemented this for me. In particular, I saw firsthand how deeply healthcare resonates in the fight for workers' rights. I met first-time voters driven to register because Prop 139, which would grant abortion access to Arizonans, is on the ballot. Each conversation underscored that defending healthcare is essential to protecting equity and dignity in the workplace.

Mike Miller, Region 6 Director

Encouraging voters in California, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona in the weeks leading up to the election to vote for pro-worker candidates and ballot propositions has helped to build a working-class movement to democratize our cities, states, country, and economy. While precinct walking in Arizona, I was especially moved by a conversation I had with an electrician who is a retired member of the electrical workers union. We talked at length about the importance of electing people who would work to bring about the transition to an electric vehicle future by making sure that public dollars spent incentivizing EV production in Arizona also incentivize high labor standards, including that the people building those cars are unionized.

Adrian Picon, Local 6645, General Motors Rancho Cucamonga

GOTV organizing is important because sometimes all it takes is one UAW member to inform the voters in some of the purple states why we are backing our candidates. With thousands of us doing this work together across the Region, we have the power to change purple states to blue, and advance our issues as workers.

Jules Robichaux, Local 4929, Western Washington University

Political action empowers us to stand up for people in our community. It's a direct way of having a say in the decisions that affect our lives.

Iris Rosenblum-Sellars, Local 4811, UC Berkeley

I met a homemaker who was a lifelong Republican. When she heard about Trump and Vance’s support for a national abortion ban, she was terrified of what it would mean in cases of life-threatening pregnancies. After the conversation, she’s no longer voting for Trump.

Laurie Stephey, CAPS/Local 1115, State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control

Canvassing made me feel more connected to the long history of struggles for labor rights and human rights in this country. It's easy to take these rights for granted, but actually knocking on doors reminded me that our rights were not freely given. Canvassing, organizing, protesting, and doggedly working towards a goal, rather than waiting for someone else to do it, is how change has been made in this country. It also made it apparent how fragile these advancements are. We saw plenty of opposition flyers falsely claiming to fight for the working class and plenty of voters who were unable to find the truth in all the misinformation. If nobody is out there working to preserve our rights, they will backslide.

Eugene Toth, Local 4811, UC San Francisco

My canvassing partner and I were assigned to a sober living community where we met almost a dozen people who either weren’t registered or planning to vote. After an hour of sitting with them and talking through their struggles, almost all of them had agreed to register to vote and were way more interested in Harris. It was so fulfilling to see people who felt invisible realize the importance of their voice in this election. Being able to meet with our friends in the culinary union and fight for such an important cause in such an important election really made me feel the importance of organized labor and significance of worker power in the fight for our rights.

Sarah Van Dijk, Local 4811, UC San Diego

It was an incredible experience seeing fellow workers from my new home in California go to Arizona, where I grew up, and inspire voters there to care about issues that matter most to us.

Claire Williams, NGSW-UAW, University of Nevada Reno

Union organizing at the University of Nevada has really reminded me how much a simple conversation about shared concerns can bring people together and inspire work toward a common goal. Similarly, political canvassing in Reno has shown me how cutting through the noise and just having a conversation with my fellow community members about the issues we face, concerns we share, and the things we care about can make a big difference. Canvassing has also given me the opportunity to remind people how much their voice really does matter, and empower them to use it, especially in hotly contested elections. For example, I had a long conversation with a voter who was convinced her vote was inconsequential. After coming together over issues we both prioritize and laying out the numbers and showing her how close some of these races are, she was totally on board with voting for pro-labor candidates all the way down-ballot. In Nevada, it really is true that every vote counts toward securing a pro-union state government!

Upcoming events

Region 6 Gender Justice & Civil Human Rights Committee meeting: November 11 at 6pm via Zoom.
Region 6 Climate Justice Committee meeting: November 26 from 6-7pm via zoom.
Region 6 Education & Communications Committee meeting: November 15 from 12-1pm via zoom.
Region 6 Political Action (CAP/PAC) meeting: November 16 at 10am via zoom.

Region 6 Leadership Conference: January 10-12 in Pico Rivera, California. 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. All Locals & Organizing Campaigns in Region 6 are strongly encouraged to send members to participate in the ECC on an ongoing basis. For regular updates and information, you can also check out Region 6 on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram, and our website.

Aaron Thomas

UAW Members Get Out the Vote

Updates from Across the Region

Reports from the Field: Voter Outreach to Build Worker Power

Election Day! Track Region 6 Results, Next Steps

Members’ Issues on the Ballot

UAW Region 6