Aggressive struggle and rank-and-file control are among UE's core principles. In this UE NEWS Bulletin, you'll find stories of aggressive struggle by rank-and-file UE members from coast to coast, along with examples of international solidarity (another core UE principle) and a review of a new book about the history of another union that shared UE's principles, the Farm Equipment Workers.

One Year Ago Today, Erie Workers Proved the Strike Is Back

One year ago today, the 1,700 members of UE Locals 506 and 618 in Erie, PA successfully concluded a nine-day strike against their new employer, Wabtec Corporation. The strike brought national and international attention to the role of corporate greed in destroying good jobs. After decades of retreat, workers are fighting back now using the most powerful weapon in our arsenal: the strike. The UE Steward 2019 Year in Review issue looks at this revival of the strike, highlighting the strike by Locals 506 and 618 in Erie.

Local 150 Rallies Demand Medicare for All, Union Rights

UE Local 150 held rallies held rallies for Medicare for All and union rights in six cities across North Carolina on Monday, the day before that state’s presidential primary. UE members who work for city governments, the state of North Carolina and the Cummins Rocky Mount Engine Plant were joined members of the Southern Workers Assembly, Raise Up for $15, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and community supporters in “pickets for health.”

UE Delegation Brings Solidarity to Locked-Out Unifor Members

Three UE leaders — Local 106 President Jim Borowski (center, with red collar), Local 1177 President Larry Hopkins (right of Borowski, in black and gray hat) and Local 1421 President Bryan Martindale (right of Hopkins) — traveled to Regina, Saskatchewan this week to support members of Unifor Local 594, who have been locked out by their employer, Co-op Refinery, for three months.

UE's officers sent a letter of solidarity to Unifor Local 594 last month, declaring that “the very right of workers to have an organized voice and a say in their workplaces is at stake in this dispute,” and that “this struggle is not simply about refinery workers in Regina, it is about democracy and power for all workers.” More information about the lockout is available at boycottco-op.ca.

Coordinated Bargaining Brings Strong Gains for Service Contract Locals

By bargaining together, UE Locals 208, 1008 and 1118 were able to put the best pieces of each contract on the table and leverage upwards, resulting in significant wage increases and improvements in benefits and language for federal service contract act workers. Read more »

Henry Mayo Contract Strengthens Union Rights, Improves Wage Scale

Members of UE Local 1004 ratified a new three-year agreement with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital on February 6. The new contract includes wage increases, improvements to differentials and bereavement leave, and significant improvements to the ability of union officers and stewards to carry out their duties so that the local can better represent its members and build the strength needed to win more gains in the future. Read more »

Local 170 Holds President's Day Political Action Day

UE Local 170 members went to the West Virginia state capitol on President's Day (February 17) to meet with legislators. They checked on the status of bills written by the union, which include pay increases, safer working conditions, and fighting back against privatization of state jobs. Read more »

Locals 625 and 626 Draw a Line in the Sand

After running a militant contract campaign which included a one-day strike of their employer, ABB, UE Locals 625 and 626 ratified a three-year agreement on December 21. The vote was held in a crowded room of union members at the American Legion in Mt. Pleasant. The workers, who build high-quality circuit breakers and high-voltage equipment at locations in Greensburg and Mt. Pleasant, had been working without a contract for seven weeks. Read more »

Stepan Workers Beat Back Healthcare Concessions, Secure Wage and Language Gains

UE Local 1421 members who work at the Stepan Chemical Plant negotiated a new three-year contract in November which secured gains in wages, severance and language clarification while beating back concessions on benefits and health care costs. Read more »

Northeast Vermont Head Start Workers Un-Freeze Wage Scale

UE Local 221 members who work for the Head Start program at Northeast Kingdom Community Action (NEKCA) ratified a new two-year agreement this fall. The new contract updates the wage scale for the first time since 2002, when workers agreed to freeze the wage scale and only take cost-of-living adjustments in order to help the agency through some difficult financial times. Read more »

New Local 770 Pact Shortens Time to Top of Pay Scale

Members of UE Local 770 ratified a new five-year agreement with Hendrickson International in January. The new contract reduces the years of service required to reach top pay from ten to three. Top pay will increase by an average (among classifications) of 10.3 percent over the life of the contract, while starting pay will increase by an average of 12.5 percent. Read more »

New Britain Dispatchers Stave Off “Gutting” of Contract

UE Local 222-Sublocal 25, New Britain 911 Dispatchers, settled their contract after almost 10 months of, at times, very contentious negotiations. The city proposed to essentially gut their contract but the sublocal was able to stave off their more reprehensible demands. Read more »

Local 248 Holds the Line on Health Care

Local 248’s new three-year contract for cafeteria workers and custodians at the Old Rochester Regional High School was a textbook case of an informed and involved membership successfully resisting management concessions. Over half of the members came to observe negotiations and would sit at the conference table and participate in the bargaining, demonstrating to management their support for the negotiating committee. Read more »

Hundreds of Concessions? Local 269 Says No

On the day before their contract expired on May 1, Local 269 and their employer, Erving Industries, were still “miles apart” on contract proposals. Management had come into negotiations with hundreds of proposals to change virtually everything in the contract. They demanded concessions on health insurance, cost-sharing, and retiree benefits, and proposed eliminating holidays, freezing wages, and cutting overtime, report and call-in pay. Read more »

Public Campaign Helps Co-op Workers Maintain Premium-Free Healthcare

After seven months and more than 100 hours of negotiating, UE Local 255 ratified a new three-year contract in December. Management's initial economic proposals either included no wage increases for employees with five or more years seniority or required that employees give up a paid holiday in order to receive a seven-cent increase. Read more »

Colombian Workers Fight Anti-Worker Economic Policies, Despite Repression

UE Field Organizer John Ocampo reports from a labor delegation to Colombia: “These are politically independent, class-struggle-oriented unions that fight not just for strong union contracts and the immediate interests of their own members but for all workers even if not members of their unions. These unions are rooted in the workplace but also in the wider communities in which workers live.” Read more »

The Distinct Perspective of a “Little Leftist Union”

The UE NEWS reviews The Long Deep Grudge, a new book by historian Toni Gilpin which recounts the history of the Farm Equipment Workers union (FE). Like UE and the ILWU, the FE practiced a militant and democratic form of unionism that contested the boss’s power on the shop floor as much as in contract negotiations. Read more »