UAW Region 9A Weekly Newsletter: September 19
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LOCAL & ORGANIZING UPDATES
Next Friday: UMaine & UVM Grad Workers Rally for Fair Contracts
Friday, September 26 | 1 PM | MLK Plaza, University of Maine, Orono, ME
Friday, September 26 | 1 PM | Howe Library, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Next Friday, graduate workers at the University of Maine and University of Vermont will be rallying to win the fair contracts they deserve.
The UMaine Graduate Workers Union has been bargaining for over 660 days—it's time to say enough is enough. We demand a contract that values grad workers’ labor, secures our rights, and makes the Universities of Maine a more just place to work and study.
Meanwhile, UVM Graduate Students United has filed a ULP with the Vermont Labor Relations Board while UVM admin continues to stall and engage in surface bargaining. We're done waiting—it's time for real movement at the table.
Grad workers, students, faculty, staff, and community allies—your presence shows that we’re united and serious. Let’s show both universities that we won’t back down until we get the working conditions we deserve!
Local 379 Votes on Strike Authorization & Prepares Practice Picket
Thursday, September 25 | 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM | 22 East Dudley Town Rd, Bloomfield, CT
Local 379 members at Cummins are standing strong after 12 bargaining sessions with their employer haven’t made enough progress on top priorities, including increased wages, profit sharing, vacation, retirement, and job security.
Although bargaining was scheduled for today, the company’s negotiators decided to no-show. Tomorrow, members are taking a strike authorization vote to show Cummins we have the power to demand job security, fair wages, and improved contract language that will benefit members’ daily working lives.
Join them for a practice picket in Rocky Hill next Thursday, September 25, before their contract expires on September 27!
Stand in Solidarity with Local 2320 Member Against Unjust ICE Detention
Monday, September 22 | Malden, MA
UAW members stand in solidarity with Local 2320 member Leslie Perlera Gonzalez and her husband Hernan Elias Escobar, who was violently arrested by ICE on Wednesday in Massachusetts. While Hernan is being unjustly detained at a facility in Plymouth, their community is planning a rally on Monday, September 22, in Malden. Details are forthcoming—follow @uawregion9a on social media or check the family’s GoFundMe for updates.
If you live or work in Massachusetts, save the LUCE defense hotline number at 617-370-5023 if you want to connect with other people in your community who are taking action to keep each other safe. As always, members are encouraged to use the UAW’s hotline for immigration questions and emergencies. In the event that a member is experiencing an unexpected change in immigration status or any other immigration-related issue, call this number to be connected with legal counsel: 888-416-2110.
Local 2179 Members at Content Critical Solutions Stand Strong
Local 2179 members are in the trenches bargaining for fair contracts at Century Direct Services and Content Critical Solutions.
Century Direct put a final offer on the table that members soundly rejected. Meanwhile, members at Content Critical demonstrated outside their employer on Wednesday to show the strength behind their demands.
We are asking locals, organizations, and political campaigns to cease orders with Century Direct until our members win a fair contract. Stay tuned for more opportunities to support these Local 2179 members in their fights
NYU Adjuncts Launch Paid Family Leave Campaign
The NYU Adjuncts Union is launching their fight for paid family leave in their next contract. Earlier this year, the union sent out a bargaining survey asking adjunct faculty if paid family leave would make a difference in their lives. The response was clear and resounding: yes, NYU adjuncts need paid family leave now.
In response, the Paid Family Leave Working Group and Organizing Committee drafted a collective letter calling on NYU to meet with the union and discuss a path forward. Earlier this week, union members delivered a letter directly to NYU President Linda Mills.
Paid family leave is already guaranteed to many workers under New York State law, and it would cost NYU little financially. Thousands of unionized adjuncts around the city have already won this essential right, and NYU adjuncts are ready to join them by standing united.
Region 9A Represents at Annual Aerospace & General Dynamics Council
Thanks to Region 9A’s delegates from Local 405, MDA Local 571, and BMDA Local 3999 for representing our region at this week’s UAW Aerospace & General Dynamics Council meetings.
Our members and Regional Director Brandon Mancilla were proud to share lessons learned from this year’s successful contract campaign at Electric Boat in Groton, CT, with UAW family from around the country—including the leadership of Local 3999 at Bath Ironworks in Maine, who are preparing for their upcoming negotiations.
UnLocal Staff File Petition to Unionize with ALAA Local 2325
Thirteen staff members at UnLocal, a nonprofit providing direct immigration legal representation and community education to NYC immigrant communities, are unionizing with ALAA Local 2325. While the employer is resisting voluntary recognition of the union, the workers have filed a petition for an NLRB election. Follow @alaa2325 on Instagram for the latest updates!
More Region 9A Locals in the News
“The boss of a top New York City public defense group tried to break up her organization's own attorney union by urging a lawyer to launch a competing one, union leaders alleged on Friday. Lisa Schreibersdorf, the executive director of Brooklyn Defender Services, allegedly approached one of her organization’s attorneys this month and pitched them on the idea of decertifying the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys chapter that has operated at BDS since 2021.”
- Queens Daily Eagle: Brooklyn Defender Services' boss accused of union-busting scheme (Sept. 19)
“The head of a legal services group that provides public defenders and other lawyers for the needy tried to induce a union delegate to help bring in a new management-friendly union in exchange for a lighter work load, according to a charge submitted to the National Labor Relations Board on Friday. The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys-UAW Local 2325 alleges that Brooklyn Defender Services executive director Lisa Schreibersdorf summoned a staff member to a private meeting in her office on Sep. 16 and proposed a covert campaign to kick out Local 2325 and affiliate workers with a new union its place.”
- The City: Brooklyn Public Defenders Accuse Boss of Scheme to Bring in Pro-Management Union (Sept. 19)
“Workers at the New York Foundation for the Arts announced last week that they are seeking to unionize with United Auto Workers Local 2110, marking the first time in the nonprofit’s 50-year history that its staff has organized.”
- Chief Leader: Support for artists, support for staff: NYFA workers launch union drive (Sept. 19)
FROM REGION 9A
Region 9A Veterans Council Visits V.E.T.S. in Connecticut
Our Region 9A Veterans Council is proud to support Veterans Equine Therapeutic Services in Connecticut. Thank you to V.E.T.S. and MDA UAW Local 571 for hosting our members for a visit last week to learn more about their important work to provide therapeutic healing through equine-related activities with veterans and their families.
Join the Region 9A Veterans Council at the Annual Dinner Dance
Saturday, November 8 | 6 PM | Doubletree by Hilton, Bristol, CT
Join the UAW Region 9A Veterans Council at the 27th Annual Dinner Dance! The 2025 Dinner Dance will be held on Saturday, November 8, at the Doubletree by Hilton in Bristol, Connecticut.
The reception will begin at 6 PM, and dinner will begin at 7 PM. Tickets are $65 per person, and tables are $650 for 10 seats. Please contact Tina Ross at trodriguez@uaw.net to purchase tickets.
COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM (CAP)
NYC Canvass for Zohran & Get Your New General Election UAW for Zohran Shirt
September 20 & 21 | New York, NY
With just six weeks until Election Day, join the big fall canvass to get Zohran Mamdani across the finish line to be NYC’s next mayor! Sign up here to canvass in neighborhoods across the city—you can join Local 2179 members at the East Village canvass on Saturday.
If you sign up to canvass and want a brand new UAW for Zohran t-shirt featuring the general election date, please email James Taylor (jhtaylor@uaw.net) and Donca Hackney (dhackney@uaw.net) to pick one up from the Region 9A office.
UAW Members Testify for Campaign for New York Health
UAW members joined legislative champions, movement makers, and other labor leaders to call on New York to fight back against the federal healthcare cuts and pass the New York Health Act, which would enact universal, single-payer healthcare in New York State. Local 2110 President Olga Brudastova and Region 9 CAP Representative Wence Valentin spoke on the importance of universal health care to the UAW membership.
Protect International Workers: Submit a Comment to DHS on F & J Visa Rule Change
UAW members are mobilizing against a burdensome new rule, the latest in a sequence of xenophobic directives coming from the Trump administration.
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security published a rule that shortens the length of time international students and scholars on F and J visas may remain in the U.S. before applying for a visa renewal, as well as imposes restrictions on graduate students seeking to change programs.
These rules are designed to add layers of bureaucracy to an already daunting and complicated process, and they would further discourage international students and scholars from coming to the U.S. If implemented, this rule would negatively impact thousands of UAW academic workers nationwide.
All UAW members are invited to take a few minutes to submit a public comment—tell DHS how this rule change will harm your teaching and research, hurt higher education, and restrict workers’ rights.
Massachusetts: Testify in Support of Paid Family Leave for Grad Workers
Graduate workers from across Massachusetts are coming together in the state legislature to testify for our rights to paid family and medical leave and unemployment protections. All the other workers on campus have access to these essential programs while student workers are left behind. We have a bill to change that (S.747 / H.1336).
We need you to come out and testify at the hearing to tell legislators why we need paid leave and unemployment protections! Sign up here to show interest in testifying at the hearing, aka telling your story of why you and your coworkers need these protections. You do not need to be a union member or graduate worker to participate—anyone who wants us to have these protections is welcome.
Region 9A CAP in the News
“About 100 New Yorkers joined elected officials, labor leaders and community organizers on Tuesday to call on Governor Kathty Hochul and the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to raise their plan for public sector renewable energy projects. Speakers, including State Senator Jabari Brisport, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, former U.S. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla, UFT Climate & Environmental Justice Committee Co-Chair Ryan Bruckenthal, and writer and activist Sumaya Awad said the governor should increase public renewable energy projects to total 15 gigawatts from 7 gigawatts.”
- Brooklyn Reader: Brooklynites Push For More Renewable Energy Projects (Sept. 14)
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL UAW
Honoring the Two-Year Anniversary of the UAW Stand Up Strike
This week marks the two-year anniversary of the Stand Up Strike at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. It is a day that will go down in UAW history—the day our members made history by taking action against the Big Three and won one of the most life-changing agreements in generations.
Last week, UAW President Shawn Fain addressed our membership on Facebook Live to mark the occasion, and to look ahead to our next contract fight at the Big Three in 2028, as well as the hundreds of other contracts that impact our members’ lives across every sector.
On Tuesday, UAW released a video featuring our members at the Big Three talking about how the Stand Up Strike changed their lives, and the lessons they have learned as we gear up to win back pensions and retiree healthcare for all in 2028.
Center for Working-Class Politics Report Release with UAW President Shawn Fain
Tuesday, September 30 | 7 PM | Zoom
For this study the Center for Working-Class Politics, the Labor Institute and Rutgers LEARN partnered with YouGov to conduct an original survey of 3,000 voters in four key states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. These states are not only pivotal in national elections, but also home to large working-class populations that have experienced significant economic dislocation, especially from mass layoffs.
It is our belief that in order to reduce inequality and protect American democracy, political strategies that successfully build worker power and counter corporate influence are desperately needed. Our goal was to test whether strong, pro-worker messaging—especially from candidates operating inside and/or outside the Democratic Party —could resonate with voters who feel politically alienated. The full report will be available on September 24.
SOLIDARITY REQUESTS
Greater Boston LCLAA Chapter Meeting
Thursday, September 25 | 5:30 - 7 PM | Zoom
Join Boston area Latinx union workers, worker center members and community leaders to strategize, organize and support Latino/a workers campaigns and communities in our region. We know that it will take collective power and solidarity to resist and fight back to protect the rights of all working people against these attempts to diminish our labor as well as the threats used to put fear into our communities.
Wear Your Values Weekend
September 20 & 21 | Parsons The New School, New York, NY
Join Remake for a two-day celebration of fashion, climate, and community, where design, business education, and activism collide to reimagine fashion’s future. This isn’t your typical conference. Wear Your Values Weekend is hands-on, inspiring, and deeply human. It’s a space to learn, connect, and create change alongside students, makers, entrepreneurs, and global leaders in sustainability. Hear garment workers’ stories from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mexico, the U.S., and beyond.
Union Hiring Hall
- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders | Paid Internship | Washington, DC
- Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union | Organizer | New Brunswick, NJ
- Maine AFL-CIO | Campaigns Director | Augusta, ME
UPCOMING EVENTS
UAW National Ford Council Meeting
September 22-26 | San Diego, CA
2025 UAW Membership Mobilization Institute
September 28 - October 3 | Onaway, MI
2025 UAW Local Union Officers Institute
October 5 - 10 | Onaway, MI
UAW Organizing Conference
October 12-17 | Onaway, MI
UAW Skilled Trades Conference
October 20-24 | Detroit, MI
Coalition of Labor Union Women Conference
November 9-11 | San Diego, CA