This is a press announcement released by the United Auto Workers on September 4, 2024. It describes a union organizing victory by the Ultium car battery manufacturing workers in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
Tennessee Ultium Car Battery Workers Unionize
Alabama Bus Manufacturing Workers Unionize, Win Decent Contract
This article reports on a successful union organizing drive at an electric bus manufacturing plant in Anniston, Alabama. A majority of the 600 workers at the factory run by New Flyer — a Canadian company — voted for union representation by the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) in January 2024. By mid May, workers ratified a contract with major wage and benefit gains.
U.S. Elections: Rightist Radicalism Needs Working-Class Answer (II)
The 2024 presidential election is less than three months away. The U.S. working class faces the same challenge posed throughout its history. In this class-divided society, the wealthy minority that makes up the capitalist class has two political parties. The working class has none. We are presented with the claim — by Democrats and Republicans alike — that their candidate speaks for working people and will improve our conditions. That’s an illusion. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have defended and will safeguard the interests of the capitalist class. The second part of this article takes up the similarities and differences between Trumpism and Buchananism, the failure of Democratic Party liberalism, and the prospects of working-class political action independent of the two parties of the wealthy — Democrats and Republicans.
‘Our Fight for Justice for the Working Class Continues’: UAW to press forward after setback in Alabama
This is a statement by Shawn Fain, President of the United Auto Workers (UAW), released by the union May 17, 2024. Fain responds to the results of the union recognition vote at the Mercedes manufacturing complex in Alabama, which workers lost by a 56% margin. “While this loss stings, these workers keep their heads held high,” said Fain. “These workers will win their fair share. And we will be there every step of the way to support them.” His statement makes plain that the UAW remains committed to a nationwide union organizing drive, with whatever ups and downs lie ahead.
Historic Victory: Volkswagen Workers Vote for Union
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted by a 73% margin for representation by the United Auto Workers (UAW). It is a huge accomplishment for the workers involved, for all auto workers, and for the labor movement and working class across the United States. The results have historic significance. The UAW failed in two previous attempts to organize VW, in 2014 and 2019. Other efforts to organize auto plants in the South have also been unsuccessful. In Chattanooga, workers won for the first time in a foreign-owned U.S. auto plant. It was also the first Southern auto factory where workers approved a union through an election since the 1940s. Chattanooga workers opened the door to extending unionization of other auto plants in the South and beyond, as part of the nationwide organizing drive the UAW launched last fall.
‘Your Defining Moment to Change Your Lives’: UAW President Speaks in Alabama
Shawn Fain, President of the United Auto Workers (UAW), gave a speech to Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama, on March 24, 2024, which we are sharing in this post. The UAW has made progress in its effort to organize auto workers in this factory in Vance, Alamaba, as part of a nationwide campaign to organize non-union auto assembly, parts, and battery plants. The union announced the organizing drive on the heels of the significant victory in its strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis — the Big Three — last year.