UAW Region 9A Weekly Newsletter: November 7
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A MESSAGE FROM REGION 9A DIRECTOR BRANDON MANCILLA
Dear fellow members,
Our champion for economic and social justice for all working class people is going to be the mayor of New York City. The UAW was the first union to endorse Zohran Mamdani because he has shown up for us from day one.
Unions get involved in politics and make endorsements because we need to have people in office who will represent the interests of our members, pass laws that will protect jobs and improve the lives of working class people, and support our union’s efforts to organize workers who don’t have a union yet.
On all these fronts Zohran has proven to be a fighter for the working class. Zohran has been a partner in our legislative battles. He stood with us against layoffs. He was a constant presence on our picket lines and strikes. And he inspired our members in NYC to believe in a politics that connected their struggles for dignity on the job and in their neighborhoods to justice for people around the world.
Zohran is a real one. I’ve gotten to know Zohran as an organizer, as my assemblymember in Queens, and as a friend. I joined him when he was on a hunger strike in DC demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. It was there alongside him that I announced the UAW’s support for peace. I’m proud to be in this fight with him. And I am looking forward to what we will be able to do together to make New York City more affordable for working people.
Now, the tough work of governing with the working class’ interests at the center of our politics begins.
Solidarity,
Brandon Mancilla
LOCAL & ORGANIZING UPDATES
On Strike! CAMBA IT Workers Hit the Picket Line in NYC to Raise Wage Floor
After a last, best and final offer from management, IT workers at NYC nonprofit CAMBA, Inc. went out on strike this week, refusing to accept a wage floor of only $47,500. Management has also refused to offer reasonable policies on remote work, refused to bargain about workload, and continues to insist on a single year contract!
After the multiweek strike by workers at CAMBA Legal Services this summer, CAMBA workers in the IT department are joining the fight to demand justice at CAMBA. You can join the picket line every weekday from 12 to 1:30 PM at 20 Snyder Avenue in Brooklyn, NY.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute RAs Stay Strong Through Week 2 on Strike
Last Friday, the Resident Advisors Union (WPI-RAU-UAW) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute went on strike after months of bargaining in which university administrators refused to negotiate over proposed changes which would dismantle the RA role.
On Monday, November 10, at 11:30 AM, WPI Management will be bargaining once again with the RA Union, and your support is needed on the picket line! Let’s show management once and for all that the university’s proposals are unsafe for residents and RAs, undercompensate the hardworking RAs, and are not thought through at all!
Rally Recaps Across Region 9A
Over the past week, members across Region 9A rallied to keep the pressure on their employers during bargaining and contract enforcement campaigns.
In Massachusetts, Harvard Graduate Student Union (UAW Local 5118) members rallied against the university’s attempt to remove more than 900 students on research-based stipends from the bargaining unit. Later in the week, Harvard Academic Workers-UAW marched to deliver a petition signed by 1,300 non-tenure-track faculty demanding a contract given the university’s failure to make progress in over 25 bargaining sessions.
In New York City, after over a year of bargaining with the Center for Reproductive Rights Lawyers’ Union (ALAA-UAW Local 2325) for a first contract and months of negotiations with the Center for Reproductive Rights Union (UAW Local 2110), workers held a joint rally outside of the nonprofit's New York office in lower Manhattan to demand CRR management settle fair contracts with the unions. On the same day, fellow Local 2325 members at Safe Horizon also picketed for a fair contract, fighting back against management’s proposed pay cuts for people making under $50,000, attorney salaries in the $60,000s, and the ability to cut retirement contributions at the boss's whim.
Elsewhere in NYC, Local 7902 members at the New School rallied against management’s downsizing and targeting of part-time faculty, health service workers and student workers, featuring a performance by the unionized jazz faculty. And this afternoon, the Bronx Defenders Union is picketing to reaffirm the union’s commitment to protecting just cause rights for all members, opposing discriminatory and retaliatory action against workers; demanding transparent processes and due process protections when discipline is pursued, building solidarity with workers who are singled out, marginalized, or disciplined without fair recourse.
FROM REGION 9A
Last Chance! 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.
Region 9A Joins Region 9 for Training at Local 677 Mack Trucks in Allentown, PA
Saturday, November 15 | 7 AM - 4 PM | New York, NY to Allentown, PA
UAW Local 677 (Mack Trucks) is inviting Region 9A members for a joint education session at their local in Allentown, Pennsylvania. UAW members at Mack trucks have been at the forefront of the free trade crisis in recent years, going on strike in their most recent contract negotiations in 2023 to defend their jobs.
Join the Local 677 Education Committee to share and build together as we discuss UAW 101 and the UAW's core values as well as our joint labor struggles as a working class. Transportation from NYC will leave at 7 AM and depart from Allentown at 4 PM.
COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM (CAP)
Massachusetts CAP Endorses Local 2320 Member Tram Nguyen for Congress
This week, Massachusetts Rep. Tram Nguyen announced the UAW’s endorsement of her race for U.S. Congress. Nguyen joined UAW Local 2320 when she was a legal aid attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services, where she started as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, then became a staff attorney, and later the coordinator of the Civil Legal Assistance for Victims of Crime program.
“Congress needs new energy and new leadership. We know Tram, first as a UAW 2320 member, now as a State Representative, and we know her record fighting for issues affecting working people,” said Brandon Mancilla, UAW Region 9A Director. “She will stand with UAW and with working families.”
“I’m so grateful to my brother and sister UAW members for supporting me as I run for Congress,” said Nguyen. “Growing up in a working class family in Massachusetts, I know how hard people work to make ends meet. With Washington ignoring the affordability crisis, we need serious change. As a union member, I know what it means to listen carefully and deliver for the people, not the powerful.”
Region 9A CAP in the News
“The UAW was the first union to endorse Mamdani, after starting discussions among members last fall. Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla says both members and leaders were excited about the candidate, bringing their arguments in favor of an endorsement through the union’s political council: ‘He's been front and center at every single one of our fights, whether it’s in higher education at Columbia or at the Mercedes-Benz first contract rally.’ Then the union lobbied for Mamdani among other leaders at the NYC Central Labor Council. ‘We were proud to be the first union to endorse him, but we also got to work to make sure that it didn’t make us special,’ said Mancilla.”
- Labor Notes: Zohran Mamdani: New York's Working Class Elects a Movement Mayor (Nov. 4)
“Mamdani can also use his profile to promote more workplace organizing, Mancilla says: ’This is a great moment to get serious about organizing thousands of workers who want a union and don’t have one. This is a time to go on the offensive against bad employers, corporate greed, the concentration of wealth and power, and the disempowerment of working people in the city, in any industry. A lot of unions that are in deep fights right now, whether it’s us or the nurses or the taxi workers, or with fights to come, are going to see a shift in the political system. Number one, having a mayor that will actually speak out and be on their side. But also someone who’s willing to think creatively alongside them about what their priorities are, beyond their everyday struggles. It’s a really important moment for labor to come together across a common set of goals.”
- In These Times: The Dawn of a Better Day (Nov. 5)
Save the Date! UAW National CAP Conference: Building Power for the Working Class
February 8-11, 2026 | Washington Hilton, Washington, DC
We are in a vital moment for the labor movement and for our country. We are facing unprecedented attacks on working families and unions. The world's richest 1% own more than the bottom 95% combined. Corporations are raking in record profits, while workers get left behind. Billionaires are doing everything they can to divide workers and pit us against one another.
Our union, the UAW, must lead if we have any shot at uniting and winning for the working class. This year's CAP Conference is focused on building our political muscle to win at the bargaining table, in the legislative halls and at the ballot box, focused on our core issues: wages, healthcare, retirement, and getting our time back.
The conference will showcase speakers who are leading in their communities, bold legislative solutions for a working-class agenda, and workshops that build the skills necessary to build political power from the ground up.
If interested in attending, contact your local leadership or state CAP Council.
FROM THE HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Higher Ed Labor United & Project Rise Up Day of Action
Friday, November 7 | Nationwide
Higher ed workers from wall-to-wall and coast-to-coast including UAW members nationwide formed Higher Ed Labor United (HELU) recognizing the need for more coalitional, cross-union work in our movement. In our current crisis, where the landscape is constantly shifting and attacks come from every angle, both the need and the opportunity for coalitional work is greater.
HELU is proud to announce that we are part of Students Rise Up, a new effort bringing together workers, students, alumni, community members, and others to champion a new version of higher education that works for all of us. We’re demanding free college, a fair wage for workers, and schools where everyone is safe to learn and protest—regardless of their gender, race or immigration status.
On November 7, workers, students, alumni, community members, and more will come together for walkouts and protests at hundreds of schools around the country. Find an action near you.
UAW Higher Ed Council Student Worker Sub-council Meeting
Monday, November 10 | 1 PM ET | Online
The UAW Higher Education Council is holding the first ever Student Worker Sub-council meeting following the Council’s inaugural meeting in June. At this virtual meeting, we will review and vote on the draft sub-council bylaws and begin the process of electing sub-council officer positions. We will also discuss some of the avenues that UAW higher ed members are taking to fight against the attacks coming from the current administration, and share ideas delegates have to continue and broaden that fight. Please register in advance—note that all UAW student workers are invited to attend the sub-council meeting, but voting and running for officer positions are only available to elected delegates.
Higher Ed Labor United Northeast Regional Bargaining Summit
January 9-10, 2026 | UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA | Register by December 15
Join us in January in Amherst for HELU’s first Northeast Regional Higher Education Bargaining Summit. In the Northeast, where we have deep collective bargaining traditions, we have an opportunity to learn from each other and build power to fight for our shared goals and values. This Bargaining Summit brings together higher ed unions from across the northeast to build a common agenda for our region–to set new floors on wages, working conditions, and quality education.
Learn from one another’s experiences, with time dedicated to learning from others across the full range of job categories and institutions, including community colleges, 4-year universities, and research institutions. There will be breakouts on wages, workload, job security, safety, and more. Together, we’ll start developing a shared bargaining platform — common goals and demands that we can fight for collectively, strengthening our voice across states and across sectors.
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL UAW
Saving Our Union Story: Archiving with the Reuther Library
Monday, November 10 | 6:30 PM ET | Online
Your local’s history is your legacy. In this session, Gavin Strassel, UAW Archivist at the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University, will share practical tips for preserving union history, show how to submit documents to the Reuther Library, and highlight resources available to labor communicators. Learn how to safeguard the past while empowering today’s communications.
UAW Secretary-Treasurer’s Office Financial Officers Virtual Training
Wednesday, November 12 | Saturday, November 15
Local union officers are invited to join a comprehensive virtual Financial Officers’ Training designed to educate elected financial officers on their roles and responsibilities within the local union. Each day features two sessions: morning and afternoon. One session each day will cover financial officers’ responsibilities, while the other will focus on PCT, LUIS, and membership list maintenance. You can register for one or both sessions and choose to attend them on different days.
The November virtual trainings are free for local union officers to attend. Please save the date for the annual in-person Financial Officers Conference to be held in New Orleans from February 22-27 in 2026.
Tell USTR: Put Workers First in the USMCA Review
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is asking for comments ahead of the 2026 review of the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). Let’s flood them with comments and make it crystal clear: no more corporate giveaways, no more empty promises. It’s time for a trade deal that protects our jobs, our families, and our communities. And if USMCA isn’t negotiated into a trade deal that’s good for workers everywhere, then the U.S. should cancel the agreement.
Working-class people have paid the price for so-called “free trade” for 30 years. Now, we have a shot to say loud and clear to policymakers: we need a trade deal that works for working people, not for Wall Street and greedy CEOs. NAFTA—and the so-called “NAFTA 2.0,” the USMCA—sold us out. These trade deals shipped millions of good union jobs out of this country. They let corporations run to the lowest bidder, exploit workers abroad, and then turn around and sell the product back here while our plants closed and our towns were gutted.
Enough is enough. The UAW is demanding a new worker-first trade deal that:
- Prioritizes job security: companies need to make it here if they want to sell it here.
- Strengthens enforceable labor rights for all workers. We can’t let corporations pit us against each other.
- Guarantees equal pay for equal work across borders. Corporations should not be able to use trade to cause a race to the bottom.
SOLIDARITY REQUESTS
Support Harvard Staff & Fight for TPS!
Today (Friday, November 7), 600,000 Venezuelan TPS holders will lose their legal status based on the Supreme Court’s recent shadow docket decision staying a lower court’s order barring DHS from terminating their designation. Many staff members in the Harvard community, both past and present, are TPS holders. And yet, because they are not students, many of these staff members have not received even the basic support the university has provided to its international students. We believe that every member of our community has equal value, and deserves the full-throated support and protection of our university.
To that end, students across Harvard’s campuses are writing to request that the University make the following changes to better support its non-citizen staff. This issue is more urgent now, and today, than ever. We hope the University will do its part to protect those that make it what it is. Harvard students, alumni, faculty, and staff are invited to add your name to the petition.
AAUP/AFT Teach-In: Protecting Campus Expression in the Greater Boston Area
Friday, November 7 | 7 PM | Online
Many campuses in Mass and across the country will be holding teaching and demonstrations this Friday, with faculty, staff, students and alumni, to resist the Trump attack on teaching, research and political expression. The Greater Boston area is home to more than 50 colleges and universities, but few have active AAUP chapters or AFT locals. To help launch the Days of Action Campaign in Greater Boston, the Books Not Bombs Committee will hold an evening Zoom Teach-in. This will be after most campus-based events, and will permit engagement of individuals whose campus organizations aren’t able to organize an event for this coming Friday.
Connecticut for All Webinar: Build Tenant Power to Fight Private Equity
Monday, November 10 | 4:30 - 5:30 PM | Online
Join a conversation with the courageous members of the Connecticut Tenants Union (CTTU) who are organizing across the state to build tenant power and form powerful, united tenant unions. These organizers will share their bold vision and grassroots strategy for putting tenants at the center of the fight for housing justice. Corporate landlords and private equity firms are raking in profits while criminally ignoring tenants' basic needs. It’s time to push back and demand homes that work for people, not for profit.
The Connecticut Tenants Union is part of a nationwide movement exposing the deep ties between real estate giants, private equity, and the billionaire class that fuels the housing crisis. Join us to learn about the CT campaign and the organizing happening across the country, and find out how you and your neighbors can take action in this growing movement for tenant power!
Starbucks Workers United Red Cup Rally
Thursday, November 13 | 4 PM | 325 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Join Starbucks workers and supporters for a Red Cup Rally on the company’s busiest day of the year! The rally will take place in Brooklyn at 325 Lafayette Ave, where workers and allies will raise their voices to demand a fair union contract and call out corporate greed. Together we’ll send a clear message to CEO Brian Niccol: no union contract, no coffee! And in the meantime, sign the pledge here.
Massachusetts Labor Guild Workshop: Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)
Thursday, November 13 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM | Online
As of 2021, Massachusetts has fully implemented its Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program, providing workers wage replacement benefits when they have to remain out of work because of their own serious health condition, to care for a family member, or to bond with a newborn or newly-adopted child. By enabling workers to afford to take time away from work under these circumstances, these critical benefits improve health outcomes for workers and the public as a whole, while also improving early childhood development outcomes for children. This workshop will provide an overview of the benefits and protections available to workers under the PFML law, tips regarding the application and appeals process, and a discussion of unresolved barriers to accessing these benefits to look out for as you seek to access these benefits for yourself, your family, or other members of your union.
Educational Freedom Project Rally in Boston
Saturday, November 15 | 2 PM | 100 Park Dr, Boston, MA
Calling out all Boston-based students! On November 15, the Educational Freedom Project working with student organizers across universities in Boston will be holding a student-centered rally to push our universities to stand up for their values. We will have community speakers, student bands, and student action tables. Bring posters calling on our universities to defend their students—and rep your university colors! Together, students are pushing our university to fulfill their missions and defend their communities.
APALA Presents Defending Democracy: The Role of South Korean Labor Unions
Monday, November 17 | 5 PM ET | Online
APALA is proud to co-sponsor an important event in the Albert Shanker Institute’s Defending Democracy Series, in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) International Affairs Department and AFT’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Task Force.
Labor unions in the US and around the world have led the way in defending civil liberties and advancing democracy. In that spirit, this webinar will feature South Korean union leaders who have been at the forefront of mobilizing communities and resisting authoritarianism.
Join the conversation hosted by AFT Massachusetts President and APALA National Executive Board member Jessica Tang and ASI Executive Director Mary Cathryn Ricker. Hear firsthand how these labor leaders are organizing for democracy—sharing tactical and strategic lessons, stories of resilience, and insights from decades of struggle against dictatorship.
Call for Proposals for the 2026 Boston Labor Conference at UMass Boston
March 28, 2026 | Submit proposals by November 21
With an eye towards surviving and defeating Trumpism while forging a broad-based movement, the tenth annual Boston Labor Conference examines the array of attacks faced by working people since the start of 2025 while also exploring the various ways in which they have fought back. In addition to sweeping analyses that attempt to make sense of Trump’s second term on a broad level, we welcome proposals for papers/presentations that offer historical perspectives and critical analysis across a range of areas related to the ongoing attack and defense of: democracy and government, a more just economy, immigrants, labor unions, public education, healthcare, LBGTQ+ communities, the media, the legal system, the environment, basic personal freedoms, and so on.
To submit a proposal to give a presentation at the Boston Labor Conference on March 28, 2026, please send a (a) very short CV (or just tell us about yourself) and (b) one-page abstract of the proposed paper/presentation by November 21st to laborresourcecenter@umb.edu and steve.striffler@umb.edu.
Sign the Petition to Support the Massachusetts State House Employee Union
The Massachusetts State House Employee Union is calling for supporters to sign onto a letter to the Labor and Workforce Development Committee in support of S.1343/H.2093, An Act Relative to Collective Bargaining Rights for Legislative Employees. These bills would extend to State House staff the same right to unionize that almost all workers in the Commonwealth enjoy. Please add your name to show your support for the Massachusetts legislative staffers.
Union Hiring Hall
- UAW International Union | Senior Organizer | Flexible, travel required
- New Yorkers United for Child Care | Organizer | Manhattan & Bronx, NY
- Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union | Organizer | Newark or New Brunswick, NJ
UPCOMING EVENTS
Coalition of Labor Union Women Conference
November 9-11 | San Diego, CA
UAW 101 & Core Values Education Training
November 15 | Allentown, PA
2026 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference
January 15-18, 2026 | Baltimore, MD
UAW National CAP Conference: Building Power for the Working Class
February 8-11, 2026 | Washington Hilton, Washington, DC