UAW Region 9A Weekly Newsletter: September 25
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LOCAL UPDATES
Puerto Rico: Local Leaders Meet with Future Congresswoman Claire Valdez
Leaders from our local unions in Puerto Rico met with a special visitor today: future Congresswoman Claire Valdez, a former Local 2110 unit leader and current New York State Assemblymember.
“It was amazing to join my UAW and union siblings in Puerto Rico and learn about their struggles and fights,” said Claire. “I look forward to continuing our conversation and using my office to help them organize in their fight against austerity.”
Local 259: AutoZone Workers Are Trying to Form the Company’s First-Ever Union
Workers at an AutoZone in White Plains, NY, are seeking to become the first store at the country’s largest auto parts retailer to win a union election, set to begin today, despite a heavy-handed union opposition campaign from the company.
LaborLab, a non-profit workers’-rights watchdog, estimated that AutoZone has spent around $200,000 to oppose the unionization effort at this one store, where 11 workers are eligible to vote to join UAW Local 259. “It’s like hitting a fly with a mallet,” said Mike DiGuiseppe, Local 259’s vice president. “They’ve had more corporate executive union-busters in the store than workers.”
Juan Accostupa, one of the workers, has worked for AutoZone for 10 years, earning $17 an hour. During that time, his wage has increased only to keep up with New York’s minimum wage. “We don’t just cash people out,” he said. “We do extra work physically. We do the unloading of trucks. We do installations of wiper blades, headlights, and batteries.”
In the news:
- The Guardian: Workers in New York seek to create first AutoZone union as company resists (Sept. 18)
- Labor Notes: AutoZone Workers Are Trying to Form the Company’s First-Ever Union (Sept. 21)
Local 5118: HGSU Calls Strike Authorization Vote After Practice Picket with HAW
Around 400 HGSU graduate workers and HAW academic workers rallied at the university’s campuses in Cambridge and Longwood on Wednesday, threatening to strike this fall as contract negotiations between Harvard and both bargaining units stretch past a year and a half.
HGSU will hold its first in a series of strike schools and open a strike authorization vote on Monday, less than four months after ending its 40-day walkout in the spring without a contract. “After the summer, in which we made progress, we’ve seen Harvard return to its stonewalling and its delaying,” HGSU vice president Evan Lemire told The Crimson. “In the last two sessions during the fall with the University, we’ve seen no proposals.”
Meanwhile, the Harvard Academic Workers voted 93.6% to authorize a strike in July. Follow @haworkers and @hgsuuaw on Instagram for the latest updates.
Local 4100: Columbia & Sinai Postdocs Plan Practice Pickets for Fair Contracts
Monday, September 28 | 4:30 PM | Columbia Medical School, New York, NY
Despite nearly six months of negotiations during a time when Columbia should be working with us to find real solutions to major crises facing researchers, the Columbia administration has yet to demonstrate meaningful progress on issues like job stability, cost of living, and parents rights.
They have also stalled and undermined the bargaining process by failing to provide information essential to our ability to negotiate. On September 28, we will practice picket at the Medical Campus to draw attention to our campaign, inform the community, and show that—while we would prefer not to go on strike—we are prepared to take that step if necessary.
Join Local 4100 members on the (practice) picket line on Monday!
Tuesday, October 6 | 12 PM | Mount Sinai, New York, NY
As researchers, our work produces life saving research, better healthcare outcomes, and brought over $500 million in federal funding to Mount Sinai in the past year despite the attacks on research.
But instead of recognizing our value by agreeing to basic improvements to our pay, benefits, and working conditions, Sinai has instead allowed the postdoc union contract to expire, while senior researchers have gone a year without an agreement.
Sinai is recklessly endangering hundreds of researchers, and delaying agreements that would make Sinai more equitable, competitive and secure.
Join us to tell Sinai to stop stalling and start valuing researchers!
CORE-UAW: Grad Workers & Postdocs Hold Joint Rally at UMass Chan
Last Wednesday, grad workers and postdocs from across the UMass Chan campus rallied for a fair contract now and inclusion of all grad workers in our union. UMass Chan is trying to exclude graduate workers on fellowships and on rotations from being in our union over a year after the state recognized our union.
By refusing to recognize the work we do on a fundamental level, the administration is delaying progress on reaching an agreement on our first contract. We won’t accept the exclusion of graduate workers from our unit, and we demand the same rights and protections for all trainees.
Follow @coreuaw on Instagram for the latest updates on their contract campaign.
COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM (CAP)
UAW & Labor Canvasses for Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate
Saturday, Oct. 10, & Oct. 24 | Bangor & Old Town, ME
Join UAW Local 7650 and the Maine AFL-CIO to canvass for our UAW brother Troy Jackson for the U.S. Senate! It’s our time to send a working class champion to represent us in Washington.
Troy is the labor candidate. He is a fifth-generation logger, card-carrying member of multiple unions, and former member of UAW Local 2320 endorsed by the Maine AFL-CIO. From his time as a union leader to his time as a legislator and President of the Maine Senate, Troy has put working class issues front and center. His campaign will continue building the movement of working Mainers fighting against economic inequality and a broken political status quo.
Region 9A CAP in the News
“Troy Jackson worked several past union jobs as a member of the unions of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), the Machinists (IAM), Operating Engineers (IUOE), United Auto Workers (UAW), and Laborers’ International Union of North America (Liuna).”
“[Darializa Avila Chevalier] is a union member of the United Auto Workers Local 2325. ‘That really changed the course of my education and my PhD program, to be able to be part of a union that fought for me, my work conditions, my wage, and made it possible for me to continue my program,’ she said.”
“[Claire] Valdez served as an organizer with United Auto Workers Local 2110 at Columbia University.”
- The Guardian: Revenge of the labor movement: Democrats with union backgrounds aim to retake Congress (Sept. 19)
“The AFL-CIO and its affiliates, long close allies of Troy Jackson, moved quickly to get him the nomination by an overwhelming margin. [...] This process has been led by private-sector unions, notably UNITE HERE, CWA, and the UAW, as well as the SEIU and the AFT. This is also hopeful because the revival of the labor movement will depend on private-sector organizing as well as public workers.”
- The American Prospect: The New Union Way to Build Progressive Power (Sept. 24)
“Announced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani earlier this month, the Mayor’s Office of Worker Power will work with multiple city agencies to bring together workers and union leaders; refer workers to organizations that support them; hold public hearings, do research and develop policy proposals about issues affecting workers; and provide information to workers about their rights at places like libraries, schools and community events. Tony Perlstein, a longtime labor organizer with the United Auto Workers, was named as the office's executive director.”
- Law.com: NYC’s New Office of Worker Power Could Be Model for Other Labor-Friendly Locations (Sept. 24)
FROM REGION 9A
Save the Date: UAW Region 9A Veterans Council Dinner Dance
Saturday, November 7 | Holiday Inn, New London, CT
UAW Region 9A Veterans Council invites you to join us in celebration of our 28th Annual Dinner Dance to honor Veterans and UAW Service Members throughout the Region and to celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary.
This year’s event will be held in a new location: the Holiday Inn in New London, Connecticut (see map).
Region 9A Now Hiring: Bookkeeper in Hartford, Connecticut
UAW Region 9A is now hiring for a Bookkeeper based in Hartford, Connecticut! Interested candidates can learn more and submit applications via Indeed. Our bookkeeper provides financial and administrative support for regional operations, including maintaining vendor documentation, financial spreadsheets, expenditure records, and internal databases. Responsibilities include preparing, coding, and processing payment requests; tracking and reconciling regional expenditures and staff expenses; processing V-CAP contributions; compiling and analyzing financial reports; and coordinating CAP-related payments.
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL UAW
Happening Now: 2026 UAW International Officer Elections
This fall, UAW members are voting by mail in the 2026 UAW International Officer Election for International President, International Secretary-Treasurer, three International Vice Presidents, and nine Regional Director positions. The latest issue of Solidarity Magazine features information about all candidates. More information about the upcoming elections is available at uawmonitor.com/elections, and you can watch recordings of all the candidate forums on YouTube.
Ballots have now been mailed and must be received by October 5, 2026 in order to be counted. If you have not yet received your ballot, please call the UAW Monitor ASAP at 855-433-8683 to request that a new one be mailed. All UAW members in good standing as of September 30, 2026, are eligible to vote in the 2026 election, including members who are part-time workers, reinstated members, and retired members.
SOLIDARITY REQUESTS
Boycott Starbucks! Solidarity with Starbucks Workers United
For nearly five years, Starbucks baristas have been fighting for what every worker deserves: better pay, enough hours to make ends meet, safe staffing, and a fair union contract. More than 12,000 baristas have organized with Starbucks Workers United, winning more than 700 union elections nationwide. But instead of finalizing a fair first contract, Starbucks stonewalls at bargaining while workers fight for the basics they need to survive. Union baristas are fed up with Starbucks’ unchecked corporate greed, so they’re calling on all supporters to Boycott Starbucks until workers win a fair union contract. Sign the pledge!
Stand with Harvard Dining Hall Workers
The UNITE HERE Local 26 dining hall workers who take care of the Harvard University community every day should be able to take care of themselves and their families. There is no reason that dining workers at the richest University in the world have wages and benefits that are worse than other Boston area Universities. Harvard must do better and settle a fair contract now! Sign the pledge to support their fight for fair wages, affordable health care, job security, and a fair union contract.
MIT Graduate Students United Practice Picket
Wednesday, September 30 | 2 - 6 PM | 48 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
Next week, MIT is hosting its Future Fest to "celebrate tomorrow's possibilities at the intersection of art, design, science, and technology" while continuing to deny urgently needed protections to the graduate workers who are helping create those possibilities. Join hundreds of workers at the picket to turn up the pressure on the MIT administration and let them know that the future of MIT starts with a fair contract!
We Are All Gig Workers Now: The Path to Full Labor Rights
Tuesday, October 6 | 6:30 - 8:30 PM | CUNY School of Labor & Urban Studies, New York, NY
Join us for a conversation with leading labor figures, academics, and elected officials on the future of gig worker organizing. Hosted in partnership with the Consortium for Worker Education (CWE) and researcher Lina Moe, it follows a piece published in New Labor Forum this spring examining the expanding gig economy and the path to worker power. The gig economy grew out of the mass worker displacement of the 2009 financial crisis, and has since expanded to cover a growing share of the American workforce, replacing stable jobs with precarious labor severed from the protections of employment. As dynamics within the gig economy continue to shift around the challenges posed by AI and automation, we ask how gig workers can win protections in a system that has thus far excluded them. This panel will highlight the differing approaches and perspectives worker advocates have adopted on this issue, particularly as it relates to questions surrounding worker classification and bargaining. Speakers include Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director, New York Taxi Worker’s Alliance; Andrea Gordillo, Executive Director, Freelancers Union; James Parrott, Labor Economist, Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, and Claire Valdez, New York State Assembly Member, 37th Assembly District.
Fighting for the Future of Higher Education: Labor Organizing, Bargaining, & Policy Advocacy in the Age of EdTech and AI
October 23 - 24 | Chicago, IL
Higher Ed Labor United and our partners in UIC United Faculty AFT Local 6456 are hosting a day-long deep dive into Higher Education, EdTech, and AI. This workshop is aimed at: understanding and producing contract language that protects workers; strategizing together to create a national organizing model against the technoligarchy; creating legislative frameworks locals can take to their state legislatures and Congress; and deepening workers’ understanding of the issue.
Hiring Hall
- Regional Organizer | New Yorkers United for Child Care | Hudson Valley, NY
- Regional Organizer | New Yorkers United for Child Care | Long Island, NY
- Community Canvassers | New Yorkers United for Child Care | New York, NY
- Connecticut Governance Director | Connecticut Working Families Party | Hartford, CT
UPCOMING EVENTS
UAW Member Mobilization Institute
September 27 - October 2 | Onaway, MI
UAW Standing Committees & Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Institute
October 4-9 | Onaway, MI
UAW Health & Safety Conference
October 11-16 | Onaway, MI
UAW Education Committees Institute
October 18-26 | Onaway, MI
Region 9A Veterans Council Dinner Dance
Saturday, November 7 | New London, CT