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UAW President Shawn Fain outlined several changes in how the union will operate going forward from its communications strategy to organizing more members across various industries to changing how it does politics.
“Our members are excited about a clean, member-driven fighting UAW,” Fain said. “That means we have to make some important changes as to how we operate.”
Fain spoke live Friday on Facebook and YouTube in what has become regular updates to the 380,000 UAW members since he took office two months ago. The updates will continue because one of the changes includes the union taking control of the narrative and sharing it before heading into bargaining a new four-year contract with the Detroit 3 starting in July. The current contract expires Sept. 14.
“For too long our past leaders have been silent. We can’t sit back and let the companies continue to control the dialogue and define the issues and ultimately label us as the greedy union workers,” Fain said. “We have to change the narrative by using facts and we have the facts on our side. These companies have made a quarter of a trillion dollars over the last decade while during that same period conditions for our members have remained stagnant, plants have closed … this is unacceptable.”
Fain’s planned changes
Near the end of the 35-minute presentation, Fain told members, “We’re in a very strong position to make major gains this round of negotiations, but only if our members get organized and are ready to strike.”
Here are some of the changes to operations that Fain outlined:
- In April, Fain dissolved the UAW’s public relations department to create the communications department to provide more transparency with the membership and a more aggressive communications strategy with the press and the public. Further details were not shared during Friday’s presentation.
- The union will put more member voices on social media, in videos speaking on key issues and do more live meetings and town halls to communicate directly with membership.
- The union is more aggressive with lawmakers, Fain said, adding, “under my administration, we’re going to be organizing elected officials rather than being organized by them.”
- The union is taking a new approach to organizing workers at various companies to join the union by investing in strategic campaigns, setting clear targets and having a plan and resources in place to carry it out.
- The union has set a target “over the next few years” to bring “thousands and thousands” of workers from all sectors into the UAW.
- Once a plant is organized, the union will keep International’s organizers there through the first contract to ensure that the companies don’t try to weaken the new union during those initial contract negotiations.
- The union will run a contract campaign and will hold “national days of action” at the Detroit 3. Local union leaders will be receiving a letter with more information with the next steps from their regional director.
Fain and workers head to Washington, D.C.
Fain said he and UAW Secretary Treasurer Margaret Mock visited Washington, D.C. in April and, “were very clear with the Biden Administration and Congress” on how various factory closings in recent years such as Ford’s Romeo Engine Plant, Stellantis’ Belvidere Assembly plant and GM’s Lordstown Assembly plant have turned members’ lives “upside down.”
“I repeatedly emphasized the need for any EV shift to do right by the workers who make the industry run,” Fain said. “We will not stand by and allow workers to be left behind. If the government is going to funnel billions of dollars of taxpayer’s money to these companies, our members must be compensated with top wages and benefits.”
The union is currently bargaining a new contract with GM’s joint-venture Ultium Cells LLC in Lordstown, Ohio. Fain said the bargaining team from the Ultium plant, which makes battery cells for EV batteries, came to Washington to talk to policymakers about “about issues such as exposure to chemicals that are not yet regulated by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and how employees are getting sick and passing out.”
“U.S. taxpayers have and are going to continue to funnel over a billion dollars a year to Ultium despite their paying poverty wages and having horrifying health and safety conditions,” Fain said.
Ultium Cells, the joint-venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More:The UAW has a problem with GM’s new joint venture that the union wants addressed now
GM bankruptcy anniversary
In the past few weeks, union leaders have repeatedly noted automakers’ significant profit margins and high executive compensation in recent years. They plan to make demands such as ending wage tiers, ensuring job security and reestablishing cost-of-living allowances.
Two weeks ago, on the 14th anniversary of General Motors filing for federal bankruptcy protection, UAW Vice President of the GM Department Mike Booth posted a statement on the UAW website noting how “auto workers rallied to save the iconic company” by having their wages cut, losing retirement security and job security and had their cost-of-living adjustments suspended. In the past decade, he wrote, GM made more than $100 billion in profits in North America, yet the union members, “still live with the two-tier wage and benefits system. We still don’t have cost-of-living adjustments in a time of historic inflation. We still suffer from plant closures and an uncertain future, even when business is booming.”
More:UAW new top bargainer’s life story shaped his negotiation style and agenda
More:GM CEO Barra: Automaker, UAW have differences that need ‘problem solving’
Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
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