Blog

For more than 45 years, the Family Education Center has been a place where UAW members and their families come together for an experience that combines education with recreation.

Detroit - “No one could ever anticipate the trauma and pain that Museum of Modern Art UAW members endured Saturday afternoon when they left their homes for work.  Thankfully, our i

SATURDAY: Oshkosh Defense Workers, Elected Leaders to Rally Demanding Good Union Jobs for Wisconsin Families Oshkosh Defense slashed hometown jobs in half since 2012 Workers urge company to build USPS vehicles in Wisconsin, create 1,000 local jobs OSHKOSH, WI — Joined by community members and elected leaders outraged by the loss of local jobs, Oshkosh Defense workers with the United Automobile Workers (UAW) Local 578 will rally Saturday at the corporation’s massive headquarters calling for a major investment in good union jobs for Fox Valley families.
My Sisters and Brothers, Just a short message today on behalf of myself and the entire International Executive Board, to wish our UAW family all the best on this holiday weekend. Many of us are observing religious holidays; and while our celebrations may be different this year, we are still with one another in spirit and in faith. And it is that commonality that will see us through this terrible worldwide crisis.
The day COVID-19 shutdown the Warren (Michigan) Technical Center is the day Travis Fick jumped wholeheartedly into the fight against the virus. “It was a Friday. I believe March 20. I had been paying attention, so I knew there was a shortage of personal protection equipment, so I started a Facebook group to see what we could do,” says the Local 160 member. Immediately, he posted information about the need to get protection gear to medical professionals. He called businesses like dentist offices that had closed because they were not essential, but might have N95 masks, gloves, medical gowns and caps, or anything that could be used on the front lines.

Yesterday, UAW Local 434 members at John Deere in Moline, Illinois began producing face shields for health care workers battling COVID-19 in their communities. The original run will produce 25,000 face shields with materials on order to produce another 200,000. The shields will be distributed to local health care facilities, as well as being used by production workers to ensure they’re safe while producing the equipment.

Tune in 2 p.m. (EDT) Friday, April 10, for a free webinar that offers expert information for those still working outside the home during the coronavirus pandemic. The event, Workplace Safety in a Pandemic: Slowing the Spread of Coronavirus and Communicable Diseases, is sponsored by Cornell University ILR Worker Institute. Register now at https://bit.ly/2JR2MFb.

My Brothers and Sisters, I’d like to talk a little today about the loss of my good friend and former UAW Secretary-Treasurer Ruben Burks. Ruben passed on Monday, another casualty in this terrible pandemic. He was truly a gentleman and a tireless fighter for working men and women, for our members and for what is right and just. He served this union tirelessly for decades, starting at the GM Fisher Body Plant 2 in Flint, Michigan. He quickly rose through the UAW ranks, serving as committee person, executive board member and director of Region 1C. I will be forever grateful for his leadership and his friendship. And in thinking about my dear union brother and his contributions, I take strength in the fact that Ruben was one of so many dedicated individuals who have served this union.
My Sisters and Brothers, I’m pleased to bring you some more stories today of the good works of our UAW family during this terrible crisis. I’ve shared stories in the past weeks of our brave members on the front lines of this pandemic, but we have many members helping out in so many different ways across the nation. I’d like to share a different type of story today.
On March 13, Penni Cox was laid off from her job at the General Motors plant in Kokomo, Indiana. “Business wasn’t good, and the company was downsizing. We prayed for more work. We were willing to build anything. We just wanted to work,” says Cox. “And now, here we are building ventilators.” Cox, a mother and grandmother, is a third-generation autoworker and member of UAW Local 292, and is proud and excited to contribute to the COVID-19 fight.

The UAW International Executive Board is deeply saddened by the passing today of beloved former UAW Secretary-Treasurer Ruben Burks.

“It is never easy losing a member of the UAW family, and it is especially hard when it is someone like my union brother Ruben Burks, who gave so much to members and the union that he loved,” said UAW President Rory L. Gamble. “He was a gentleman, and a fighter for what is right and just. I am forever thankful for his leadership and his friendship.”