UAW Region 9A Weekly Newsletter: October 2

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LOCAL UPDATES

Local 2110: Brooklyn & American Folk Art Museum Unions Ratify New Contracts After Strike Threats

Unionized staff at the Brooklyn Museum and the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) have each voted to accept new four year union contracts, narrowly avoiding strikes that could have disrupted major exhibition openings at both museums. 

At the American Folk Art Museum, workers won a first contract that took almost two years to bargain after a unanimous union vote. In addition to guaranteed annual wage increases of 13.6% over four years for all staff, the contract provides additional increases to entry level staff who work in the Museum Store and as Security & Facilities Associates. Raises for these workers will range from 8% to 22% retroactive to July 1. The contract also establishes an enforceable grievance procedure, differential pay for employees who take on additional duties, hazard pay for on-site employees required to work in an emergency, limitations on the Museum’s use of temporary employees and subcontractors in place of regular staff, and preserves health care coverage for individuals without employee premium contributions. 

Richard Ho, Director of Information Technologies for AFAM who has worked at the Museum for 25 years said, “AFAM staff voted unanimously to unionize to address pressing concerns about our workplace. I’m happy that we were able to reach an agreement that will make the Museum a more sustainable place to work for all of us. I’m proud that our entire staff stayed involved and supported each other throughout this process.” 

At the Brooklyn Museum, workers were negotiating a second contract. In addition to guaranteed annual raises, the Museum agreed to upgrades for a number of titles and an appeal procedure which includes union representation for staff seeking promotions or upgrades in the future. Front facing visitor services and retail associates will earn between $28.69/hour and $32/hour by the end of the contract. Minimum pay for full time positions rises to $63,585 to $129,854, depending upon position level, in the first year of the contract retroactive to July 1. These minimums will increase by another 10.34% percent by the end of the contract. 

Elizabeth St. George, an Assistant Curator at the Brooklyn Museum, said, “We are pleased to have negotiated a second contract that preserves the quality of our health care and provides significant wage increases. It was important to us to maintain affordable health care, including keeping an out of network option.”

We have not yet reached tentative agreements on a successor contract at the Whitney Museum or on a first contract at the South Street Seaport Museum, as the museums have not met our fair demands. The strike deadline at the Whitney is Monday, October 5th.

Local 259: AutoZone Workers Voted to Form the Company’s First-Ever Union

Workers at an AutoZone in White Plains, NY, voted last Friday to become the first store at the country’s largest auto parts retailer to win a union election, despite a heavy-handed union opposition campaign from the company.

LaborLab, a non-profit workers’-rights watchdog, estimated that AutoZone spent around $200,000 to oppose the unionization effort at this one store. “It’s like hitting a fly with a mallet,” said Mike DiGiuseppe, Local 259’s vice president. “They’ve had more corporate executive union-busters in the store than workers.”

Mike DiGiuseppe, the Local 259 vice president who helped organize the workers, said that management was going on a “hatchet spree” of firings as a result of the vote. Immediately after the union vote, AutoZone management fired Nathan DuCongé, one of the worker organizers.

“Our goal is to get compensation, job security, just more things that closely reflect the value that we know that we bring to the company. We’re not getting close to what we’re worth,” said David Valencia, who works at the AutoZone store. “There is no bargaining when you’re alone. They’re only going to bargain when you’re together. So we don’t have a choice. Either we’re going to live in poverty and not be able to pay our bills, or we’re going to do this.”

In the news:

• The Chief Leader: Worker firing the latest chapter in AutoZone's relentless union-busting campaign (Sept. 29)

Local 259: Smithtown Kia Workers Ratify First Union Contract

Congratulations to Local 259 members at Smithtown Kia who unanimously ratified their first collective bargaining agreement this week!

In June, the boss refused to recognize the union and, as many employers do, hired union busters. Local 259 responded by doing what they do best: organizing. For the next six weeks, these members endured a typical anti-union campaign. But on July 13, they decisively defeated the boss in a National Labor Relations Board election and won their union.

When repeated efforts to secure timely bargaining dates failed, the auto techs took direct action. On August 28, the entire bargaining unit called out sick. The boss went into a tailspin and quickly agreed to meet.

In a single bargaining session lasting just over five hours on September 11, the parties reached a tentative first CBA. The agreement eliminates costly healthcare cost-sharing and deductibles; adds additional weeks of vacation, an additional sick day, and personal days; and establishes a comprehensive classification and prevailing-wage formula with production incentive dollars.

NYURU-Postdocs Vote 97.4% YES to Join UAW

Postdoctoral researchers at New York University have voted by an overwhelming margin to form a union, NYU Researchers United Postdocs-UAW. Of those voting, they voted 97.4% in favor, according to ballots tallied on October 1st.

“The results of our vote demonstrate the collective power we have built and the strong mandate we have as we head into bargaining," said Charlie L. Rodríguez Deliz, Center for Neural Science. "Postdocs at NYU do incredible work that benefits our institution and society. With a union, we will have a real voice to improve our working conditions so that postdocs here can thrive.”

The bargaining unit includes approximately 350 Postdoctoral Associates and Postdoctoral Fellows across NYU. Despite their essential contributions to NYU's research mission, many Postdocs face low pay, little job security, and unreasonable workloads, with conditions that vary from program to program and even from advisor to advisor. International postdocs, whose immigration status is often tied to their employment, are especially vulnerable to hostile work environments and job insecurity. 

Local 4100: Sinai Postdocs Practice Picket for Fair Contract Following Columbia

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!

Meanwhile across town at Columbia, postdocs practice picketed last week to win their own fair contract. Despite nearly six months of negotiations, the Columbia administration has yet to demonstrate meaningful progress on issues like job stability, cost of living, and parents rights.

“At the bargaining table, they keep claiming that because of the lack of research funding, they are unable to give us the demands that we need to survive,” explained Stefano Cataldi, a member of Local 4100 and associate research scientist in neuroscience. “However, Dean James McKiernan recently delivered a state of the school address in which he said the school’s grants and research funds remain stable via private investments.”

More Region 9A Locals in the News

“The UMaine Graduate Workers Union (UMGWU-UAW) released a letter on Thursday in collaboration with the Associated Clerical, Office, Laboratory and Technical Staff of the Universities of Maine (ACSUM), the Associated Faculties of the University of Maine (AFUM) and the Universities of Maine Professional Staff Association (UMPSA) entitled ‘We Didn’t Cause the Budget Crisis.’ The letter argued that the staff cuts were unnecessary and that the budget deficit was easily remedied by reducing administrative overhead and requesting more funding from the state.”

• Maine Campus: UMaine community responds to proposed cuts tied to $19 million budget deficit (Sept. 28)

COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM (CAP)

Join UAW, MA AFL, and WFP’s Labor Walk for Tom Hendrickson
Saturday, October 10 | 10:30 AM | Agawam, MA

The Western Mass Area Labor Federation, UAW Region 9A, Mass AFL-CIO, and Working Families Party will be holding a Labor Walk for Tom Hendrickson on Saturday, October 10th at 10:30 am. We will launch from School St Park, 511 School St, Agawam, MA and have a post-canvassing social at Murphy's Pub at 1 pm. RSVP HERE. We have a unique opportunity this cycle to defeat an anti-labor Republican in a red district given the general anger at the current administration. Knocking these doors could make a real difference in a close race. 

Massachusetts Peace Action Rally: Stop the Madness in Washington
Saturday, October 3 | 12 PM | Boston Common, Boston, MA

Enough of criminal wars, genocide, and the enormous profits flowing to war contractors and oil companies. Enough of policies that are devastating communities at home and abroad—from Iran, Palestine, Venezuela and Cuba to our own neighborhoods. Enough of spending trillions on war while families struggle with the rising costs of food, housing, energy, healthcare, childcare, transportation, and education. Enough of the assault on our country: ICE raids, racism, climate destruction, mass surveillance, and government increasingly shaped by billionaire wealth. Join Massachusetts Peace Action and many other organizations for a rally to insist that human needs, peace, justice, democracy, and a livable planet be placed ahead of endless war and corporate profit.

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.

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).

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL UAW

Statement From the UAW Higher Education Department

Over the summer, Trump vis-a-vis the Office of Management and Budget attempted to place political appointees at the helm of all science funding. UAW members organized to push back by submitting comments in opposition and lobbying legislators to oppose the rule. Congress paused this rule until December 11.

Last week it was reported that Trump is preparing an Executive Order making political appointees responsible for approving all NIH funding. We pushed back and won once, and we’ll do it again if the Order is published.

Tens of thousands of UAW members conduct life-saving research to cure cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, develop food sources that are more resilient to floods and fires, and explore energy alternatives to save our planet.

When we mobilize against these attacks, we are not only defending our members' jobs, we are fighting for the health, safety, and security of all working people. And we will continue to fight against whatever attacks come next.

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

Support Laid Off Union Baristas at Starbucks
Over four years ago, baristas at the Corbin's Corner Starbucks in West Hartford, CT made history by winning their union election and becoming the first unionized Starbucks in Connecticut. Since then, these workers have fought tirelessly for a union contract. But just last week, Starbucks announced it was closing 250 stores, including Corbin's Corner. Workers were given just three days' notice, leaving many with little time to prepare or even begin looking for another job. Now, the workers who took a brave stand to organize their workplace need our support. Many of these baristas are parents, caregivers for sick relatives, or the main breadwinners for their families. For many, this job was their sole source of income. Please consider supporting these union activists and showing them that their community has their backs. After everything they've done to stand up for workers, they deserve our solidarity now. Donate to the laid off baristas. 

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.

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.

Beyond Polarization: Social Media, Political Formation, and Collective Meaning-Making
October 15-16, Yale University, New Haven, CT
As digital spaces have increasingly replaced traditional media and civic institutions as sites of political meaning-making, the need to understand how these platforms build political community, identity, and strategy is more urgent than ever. Social media is often understood as a vehicle for misinformation, polarization, and mistrust. While those concerns are real, that framework does not fully capture the complex ways billions of people now use online platforms as sources of information, community, belonging, and political meaning.

This conference brings together content creators and influencers, scholars, communications strategists, organizers, and advocates to examine how political identities and shared understandings are being forged online.

Many progressive and equity-focused organizations struggle to keep pace with these changes and how to participate in and shape these conversations. As a study this summer from M&R reports, social media has now surpassed both TV news and online news (such as news websites and apps) as the most common medium used to get news.

Yet as the report issues a critical warning: "advocacy groups are currently just a blip on social media, with their perspectives on public policy getting crowded out by social media content creators who produce videos, graphics, and written content for social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, Bluesky, and Substack. "

This conference offers a unique opportunity to hear directly from creators who have built audiences numbering in the millions in order to understand how this transformation is happening in real time. Presenters include Andrew Bard Epstein, the communications strategist who led the communications effort for Zohran Mamdani's groundbreaking mayoral campaign in New York City; conservative influencers cultivating broad and often politically diverse audiences; Judith Nwundu of the Shade Room, one of the country’s largest Black digital media platforms, leading media scholars and journalists from the US, Europe and Mexico; and strategists from organizations including Planned Parenthood and More Perfect Union.

The conference is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. You can find the full program and registration information on the conference website.  Please feel free to contact Micah English (micaht.english@gmail.com) with any questions.

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.

NOLSW UAW Local 2320 is Hiring West and Midwest Regional Servicing Representatives
West Region Servicing Rep Noah Schramm has taken a role with our union siblings at AFSCME in Seattle and will be leaving NOLSW in mid-October.Accordingly, NOLSW is hiring a West Regional Servicing Representative, ideally based in Greater Los Angeles. Learn more and apply. Preference for Spanish-speakers. NOLSW is also hiring a Midwest Regional Servicing Representative, ideally based in the Chicagoland area. Learn more and apply. Preference for Spanish-speakers. 

Hiring Hall

• West Regional Servicing Representative | National Organization of Legal Services Workers (UAW Local 2320) | Greater Los Angeles, CA
• Midwest Regional Servicing Representative | National Organization of Legal Services Workers (UAW Local 2320) | Chicagoland, IL
• 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
• Paid Internships (Spring 2027) | Ranking Member Bernie Sanders’ office of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee | Washington, DC

UPCOMING EVENTS

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