Worker Power Is the Way Forward

Over the past few weeks since the election, results of most races have been finalized, including victories in many races Region 6 members prioritized. At the same time, Trump has begun announcing clearer plans for his upcoming administration – plans that promise to center the interests of billionaires while sidelining working people and attempting to divide us along lines of race, class, gender, and immigration status. Members have always known that we can’t rely on elites in any political party to save us. Instead, we need a bold, worker-led political program and assertive mass organizing in every sector to continue building a labor movement that has the power to advance worker issues and create more democracy in every area of our lives. Keep reading below to learn directly from members how they're taking lessons from this year's elections and moving forward. 

At the 2025 Region 6 Leadership Conference (January 10-12 in Pico Rivera, CA), members from across the Region will come together to discuss what the current moment means for us as a labor movement, reflect on lessons from past work, and coordinate around concrete strategies for building power to both defend and expand workers’ rights in the coming 4 years – including through new organizing, bargaining, and political action to advance climate, social, and economic justice. In order to make planning discussion at the Leadership Conference as concrete and participatory as possible, members are meeting in every sub-regional area in December to discuss potential priorities for coordinated work at both the Regional and sub-regional levels. These meetings are open to all Region 6 members and workers on active organizing campaigns, and the discussions will be used to shape the programming and planning sessions at the Leadership Conference. Your participation is critical for ensuring your priorities and concerns are reflected in this collective strategic planning. Find more info on the Region 6 website and RSVP here


Updates from Across the Region 

  • New Organizing: November has been a busy month for Region 6 organizing campaign milestones! Husbandry Workers at the Aquarium of the Pacific won their union election, and Postdocs at Washington State University won union recognition. After filing for their union last month, teachers and staff at New York Film Academy Los Angeles began their union election. A supermajority of Grad Workers at University of Nevada Las Vegas and University of Nevada Reno signed union authorization cards and delivered a letter to University Administration requesting union recognition ( more below!). Student Services and Advising Professionals at University of California filed for union recognition. And a supermajority of faculty and staff at CalArts have signed union authorization cards

  • Contract Campaigns: Contract campaigns are heating up around the Region, including many first contracts. Over 600 Grad Workers and Postdocs at Caltech held a mass membership meeting where they voted to hold a strike authorization vote December 4-5. Hundreds of Student Workers at University of Oregon rallied as part of their fight for a first contract. Postdocs at University of Southern California took action in support of bargaining proposals for international scholar support. Many other contract campaigns continue across the Region: Adjunct Faculty at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Graduate Fellows at Pardee RAND, Postdocs at University of Washington (Local 4121), Aerospace Workers at Adel Wiggins (Local 509), and more. And University of California Academic Student Employees of Local 4811 held their first ever bargaining convention to set priorities for their contract campaign. 

  • Contract Enforcement: Over 150 members of Local 872 at University of Southern California rallied to demand admin uphold important contract provisions for international workers and those with families, including dispersing contractual support funds and restoring the agreed-upon amount of paid vacation time. 

  • Pico Rivera Habitat Restoration: Members from Southern California came together this month to continue the habitat restoration project at the Region 6 office in Pico Rivera. Adding to landscaping members started last year, members planted flowers and shrubs that are local to the area and will attract beneficial pollinators. 


Nevada Grad Student Workers Demand Union Recognition 

By Carlos Tkacz, NGSW-UAW

Over the past seven weeks, Nevada Graduate Student Workers-UAW (NGSW-UAW), composed of Graduate Assistants (GAs) from across the University of Nevada, have had hundreds of conversations with our coworkers and reached supermajority support for forming our union. In doing so, we listened to our colleagues’ grievances, learned about their needs, and built strong organizational capacity with broad representation in all academic departments. Last week, NGSW-UAW announced that a supermajority of GAs at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Desert Research Institute signed union authorization cards. A few days later, we delivered a letter demanding voluntary recognition of our union to management. In doing so, GAs sent a clear message to the University that a fair collective bargaining framework is necessary to recruit and retain Graduate Assistants and meet the University's educational and research goals. So far administrators have not given a decisive response to our demand. One administrator was quoted saying, “It is the typical thing that you’re poor as a graduate student…I have never encountered graduate students anywhere who didn’t really think they were poor...” But NGSW-UAW is prepared to continue organizing, both on campus and in the state legislature, until we win recognition and enshrine our right to collectively bargain.


Members Reflect on 2024 Elections & What’s Next 

Transformative Win for Tenant Rights in Berkeley 
Khalid Mahmood, Local 4811, UC Berkeley Chemistry Department

UAW 4811 members organized to campaign for and win Measure BB in Berkeley, a transformative tenant protection measure that will create recourse against absentee landlords by codifying the right to form a tenant association and bargain over the lease, among other protections. The measure passed with over 56% of the vote. UAW 4811 members represented the bulk of the ground game, accounting for about half of the 15,000 doors knocked. Just like unions at work improve working conditions, unions at home will improve living conditions.

Members canvassing for Measure BB

Fighting for a First Contract that Supports & Protects International Workers 
Nadia Suryawinata, CGPU-UAW, Caltech Biology & Biological Engineering

As we negotiate our first-ever contract at Caltech, ensuring it reflects the needs of our international coworkers is a top priority. International graduate student workers and postdoctoral scholars make up 50% of our membership. For many of them, unions may feel unfamiliar or even daunting due to cultural and systemic differences, but I am dedicated to easing that first conversation—whether by meeting outside the workspace to ensure coworkers' privacy or by conversing in their native language to show that their union truly cares. This approach has paid off, with international workers not only participating but also stepping up to lead their own organizing efforts. As we navigate the challenges of the incoming Trump presidency, it’s essential that employers recognize they cannot continue to benefit from international labor without providing the necessary support, including paid time off for visa processing, financial support for visa-related expenses, and accommodations for delays beyond workers’ control. Often the most exploited, international workers deserve to assert their rights and trust that their union will hear, represent, and amplify their voices.

Activating Newer Members through Political Action 
Henry Salazar, Local 230, Ontario Mopar Parts Distribution

During this 2024 GOTV campaign, members of Local 230 helped support and phone bank for City of Redlands & Chino Valley Unified school district to help elect Labor friendly candidates and help fight off the extremist candidates. Local 230 members also participated in national phone banking for Kamala Harris, GOTV in Las Vegas, as well as the campaign walk with Will Rollins in Corona. Members also participated in the national Supermajority Wednesday phone banking with the Region 6 Gender, Civil, and Human Rights Committee to turn out young women voters, especially in Arizona. Throughout all of this work, it was great to have newer members get involved in our Local’s political program for the first time. By getting involved in political action, I saw new members learn news skills, put them into practice, and come away energized to keep building the fight for Labor. 

Worker Power Wins Big in Los Angeles
Ellen von zur Muehlen, Local 4811, UCLA Department of European Languages & Transcultural Studies

UAW’s election work in the LA area was a bright point in an otherwise discouraging set of election results. With over 100 members from the various locals in the area participating, UAW members knocked on thousands of doors and got hundreds of vote commits for the candidates our region endorsed. In local races, UAW member’s political work had a significant impact. Members canvassed for the LA City Council Candidate Ysabel Jurado, a tenant rights attorney and staunchly pro-labor community organizer. Jurado joins three other progressive counselors as champions of labor and working-class priorities. Other significant wins include two state assembly members, Sade Elhawary and Jessica Caloza. Victories in the state assembly are especially important to members of UAW 4811 since the state legislature is the boss of the University of California—having allies in the assembly can mean critical pressure placed on the UC Board of Regents. 

Overall, Region 6's 'Get Out the Vote' work in the LA subregion showcased the power we have as organized workers and engaged members around concrete issues that mattered to the working class, like climate change, housing justice, reproductive rights, labor rights, and medical care. Doing this work not only impacted the results of key races, it also strengthened organizing capacity within our locals and activated members to get more involved in union organizing. 

Members canvassing for Ysabel Jurado

Flipping a Historically Red Congress Seat by Centering Working People
Daniel Delgado, Local 872, University of Southern California History Department

UAW Region 6’s efforts were a critical part of the successful campaign that helped George Whitesides win California’s 27th Congressional District in 2024, a race that drew national attention due to its significance in the battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The former incumbent, Mike Garcia, has been wholeheartedly supportive of the politics of MAGA and Trump, denying the results of the 2020 election, refusing to accept climate change as reality, and rolling back rights and protections for LGBTQ people, women, and people of color. 

UAW Region 6 was deeply involved in the “Get Out the Vote” (GOTV) campaign, focusing on mobilizing working-class voters who were fed up with Garcia’s policies and eager for a candidate who represented their policy priorities and values. UAW members from UC, USC, and Caltech turned out for extensive door-to-door canvassing and phone banks to ensure high voter turnout, especially in communities of color and working-class neighborhoods. By connecting with voters on key issues like labor rights, reproductive rights, and climate justice, UAW Region 6 helped amplify George Whitesides’ message of hope for a more just, sustainable future—one that aligned with the concerns of District 27 residents. 

One voter spoke to UAW members about his concern with impurities in the water due to poor water management practices and high levels of toxic pollution due to unregulated corporate waste dumping. He expressed his support for Whitesides because of the candidate’s position of promoting climate solutions and protecting the environment.

The effort to flip District 27 was part of a broader strategy by labor unions to break the Republican stronghold in the district and flip the seat in favor of a pro-labor candidate who cares about policies that prioritized working families and the environment over corporate interests and climate denialism. The district’s increasingly progressive electorate, combined with UAW Region 6’s strong organizing efforts, helped propel George Whitesides to victory, marking a key turning point in the fight for a more sustainable and just future. With the victory, UAW Region 6 and its allies demonstrated that when workers and communities come together, even historically red districts can be flipped, improving the conditions for labor unions to advocate for people over profits.

Members canvassing for George Whitesides

UAW Members Elected to Local Office  
Rae Vander Werf, CAPS/Local 1115, CA State Water Resources Control Board

I know many of us have different feelings about the elections nationally. Many of us are scared, anxious or even just angry. I know I am when it comes to national Politics. My name is Rae and my pronouns are they/them. I am a transgender nonbinary member of our union. I am so afraid for much of the country and our other UAW members and their families, from wanting to know how to help protect our trans-youth to reproductive health rights to protecting our immigrant communities.

I wanted to personally share some of what might feel like small wins nationally but CAPS, UAW Local 1115 had a few of our own members win election for local offices. Scott Bauer won his race for Eureka CIty Council, and I won my race for American River Flood Control Board. The UAW nationwide had many other great wins throughout the country and we will only have more in the future, because when we fight, we win. 


Message from R6 Director Mike Miller 

In this year’s election cycle, thousands of UAW Region 6 members launched a massive political program to advance worker issues – on a scale unlike anything we’ve ever done before – including by making more than one million attempts to contact voters about turning out for workers’ issues.

These efforts paid off in a number of races and ballot propositions in the Region, where members’ canvassing and phone banking helped secure victories for dozens of priority candidates and initiatives: We helped win critical initiatives across the Region, including securing abortion access in Nevada and Arizona, removing slavery as a form of criminal punishment in Nevada, expanding tenant rights in Berkeley, increasing minimum wage and guaranteeing paid sick time in Alaska, affirming the right to marry in California, and defeating ballot initiatives in Washington that would have lined the pockets of billionaires while cutting funding for climate justice, public education, and long-term health benefits. At the federal level, members helped win two tightly contested US Senate races (Ruben Gallego in Arizona and Jacky Rosen in Nevada) & multiple tight races for US Congress. At the state level, members helped elect Bob Ferguson for Washington Governor and won many priority races in state legislatures. And at the local level, members helped secure victories for priority races at the city and county level, such as Ysabel Jurado’s huge victory for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council. 

As important as these wins are for advancing a working class agenda, reactionary winds – combined with the Harris campaign’s inability to present a compelling alternative for working people, instead centering corporate elites – carried Donald Trump back to the White House. We always knew that whoever won, we’d have to do a lot to hold them accountable to our agenda – and we’ll have to do even more now. 

In the coming years, we will need to work harder than ever to organize in contested spaces to advance our agenda and movement. We are a movement of working people of all races, genders, and nationalities. The reactionary forces that will take power in D.C. in January 2025 will try to divide us – to pit individuals and their communities against one another. We must resist – and insist on worker solidarity.

The task may seem daunting, and it certainly will be difficult. But we have done it before. UAW members have built power and achieved significant wins under hostile conditions before. Our organizing efforts in recent years have only made us stronger, but we must continue building a vision and plan to win. This will take the persistence and participation of UAW members everywhere. To help build this work in the next few months, I encourage all members to join subregional meetings in December and to attend the UAW Region 6 Leadership Conference in January 2025. As always, if you have questions or feedback, please shoot me an email.


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

Upcoming events

  • As a reminder, if you have been a member for 1 year, you are encouraged to apply to represent Region 6 on the UAW Member Advisory Committee on Ethics. Learn more about the position here, and submit your application by December 2

  • Subregional member meetings will convene in early December, and continue meeting at least monthly thereafter. More info & RSVP

  • Region 6 Gender Justice & Civil Human Rights Committee meeting: December 9 at 6pm via Zoom

  • Region 6 Education & Communications Committee meeting: December 13 from 12-1pm via zoom

  • Region 6 Political Action (CAP/PAC) meeting: December 19 at 6pm via zoom.

  • Region 6 Leadership Conference: January 10-12 in Pico Rivera, California. Contact your Local for more information.  

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 Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, TikTok, and our website. Not already receiving the Region 6 newsletter, or know someone else who isn’t? Fill out this form to subscribe!

Previous
Previous

2024 in Review: Building a Movement for All Working People

Next
Next

Election Results & Next Steps for Building Worker Power