Region 9A News

UAW Region 9A Weekly Newsletter: November 13

UAW Region 9A
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LOCAL UPDATES

HGSU & HAW on Strike! Fighting Back Against Greed at World’s Richest University

HGSU & HAW on Strike! Fighting Back Against Greed at World’s Richest University

The Harvard Academic Workers (HAW-UAW), non-tenure-track researchers and teachers including postdocs and contingent faculty at Harvard, went on strike on Tuesday after the administration failed to reach agreement with them on a first contract. The union has filed several Unfair Labor Practice charges against the university for withholding raises from unionized workers and making unilateral changes to working conditions.

Non-tenure track researchers and faculty power Harvard’s research and teaching missions across nearly every department. Despite their contributions, many struggle to make ends meet after two years of frozen wages, high inflation, and steep increases in health care premiums. Meanwhile, Harvard announced last month that its endowment grew by $11 billion this year—while offering workers a minimal 3.5% raise and a one-time 1% ratification bonus.

The Harvard Graduate Student Workers Union (HGSU-UAW) has also been on strike since October 27. They have been unable to reach agreement on core demands, including Harvard’s refusal to agree to a third-party process for harassment and discrimination cases, raises that match inflation, and protections for noncitizen workers. In June 2025, the administration also unilaterally removed nearly 1,000 student workers from union eligibility.

“At the bargaining table, Harvard has been echoing the same ‘right-to-work’ talking points that the Trump administration and its corporate allies have long used to try to undermine unions nationwide,” said Madeleine Baker, a labor historian and a postdoctoral College Fellow in the History of Science Department. “For that reason, it’s sadly unsurprising that they have resorted to union-busting tactics on the ground as well. Over a hundred of my colleagues and I were wrongly told without any justification given that we were ineligible for union membership, an outrageous attempt to strip us of our rights under federal law. In some of these cases, including mine, the administration admitted its error after pushback. Harvard is focused on undermining the very existence of the union it claims to be negotiating with in good faith.”

Local 405 on Strike! Workers Rally to Honor Veterans Day

Local 405 on Strike! Workers Rally to Honor Veterans Day

This Veterans Day, UAW Local 405 members honored those who served, as well as used our hard-fought freedoms to continue their strike for economic justice at one of Connecticut’s richest employers.

Many UAW Local 405 members are veterans and returned home after their service to good union jobs at Triumph, where they build fuel systems for helicopters and U.S. military aircraft. Instead of the good wages and benefits they were promised, our members are being forced to strike by a corporation that made $687 million in profit in the last five years and was bought by private equity last year for $3 billion. 

Thank you to the hundreds of supporters who showed up to stand with UAW Local 405 at Wednesday’s Veterans Day Strike Rally! We appreciate the UAW members from Locals 571, 379, 6950, 2110, and 376; fellow union members from the Connecticut AFL-CIO, Teamsters Local 671 (special thank you for these photos!), and beyond; and our elected representatives including Matthew Lesser, Kate Farrar, Saud Anwar, and Jan Hochadel.

CORE-UAW: Rally for the Contract We Deserve
New date: Friday, November 20 | 12:30 - 1:30 PM | UMass Chan, Worcester, MA

CORE-UAW Rally Rescheduled

After a year of negotiations, the UMass Chan administration refuses to agree to standard workplace protections and wages in line with unionized researchers across the country. The only way we can win these demands is by coming together to show UMass that we are willing to fight for the contract we deserve.

Join us on November 20 (a new date due to expected weather) for a rally to win:

  • Fair wages and benefits
  • Protections against discrimination & harassment
  • Support for international researchers
  • Inclusion of all grad workers in our union

Follow @coreuaw on Instagram for the latest updates on the contract campaign.

More Region 9A Locals in the News

“The union is currently in wage negotiations with the university. The administration has made an offer to increase the wages of student graduate workers by 2.25% to 3%, which is around $74 a month. However, the union has calculated that this range of potential raises sits below the national inflation rate of 3.7% as of September 2026. This mismatch is also a key reason as to why the union is requesting the university to have their wages increased.”

COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM (CAP)

Rally for Statewide Universal Child Care From the Bronx to Buffalo
Wednesday, November 18 | 9:30 AM | Columbus Park Playground, Manhattan, NY

Rally for Statewide Universal Child Care From the Bronx to Buffalo

We’ve made big progress toward universal child care in New York this year. But we’re not done until all New York families can access free, universal child care from birth to age 5. That’s why UAW is joining New Yorkers United for Child Care to demand that Governor Hochul bring home the universal child care she promised.

Thanks to our organizing, New York City launched its first free 2-K seats this year, and New York State will see free Pre-K for all 4-year-olds statewide by 2028. Families all over the state will start saving money.

But NYC’s 2-K program doesn’t have any funding beyond next year, which means there’s no guarantee it will reach all 2-year-olds in the city or even exist in the long term. And outside the city, there’s almost no free care options for families with children under four. Even worse, our child care workers are often so underpaid that they can’t even afford to do this critical work.

We’re organizing for three big priorities in 2027:

  • Make 2-K permanent so NYC families can count on free child care for their 2-year-olds.
  • Expand free 3-K statewide so families across New York—not just in NYC—can access free early childhood education.
  • Win sustainable wages for child care workers who make it all possible.

FROM REGION 9A

Celebrating Our 28th Annual Veterans Council Dinner Dance Fundraiser

Celebrating Our 28th Annual Veterans Council Dinner Dance Fundraiser

On Saturday, the UAW Region 9A Veterans Council held our 28th annual dinner dance, raising funds for veterans advocacy throughout our region.

We were honored to be joined this year by our guest speakers U.S. Navy Master Chief Zachary Nielsen, Connecticut Veterans Affairs Commissioner Ronald P. Welch, and Yale Law School Veterans Legal Services Clinic Director Michael Wishnie.

Thank you to all the members who joined us to honor and support our veterans! Learn more about the work of our Veterans Council—all are invited to join our veterans advocacy efforts.

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL UAW

Registration Now Open for Higher Education Council Meeting
Tuesday, December 8 | 3 PM ET | Online

UAW Higher Education Council Special Meeting

With all of the attacks on higher education and our members who work there, we are calling a special meeting of the Higher Education Council to discuss these challenges and how we are organizing to stop them.

Council delegates and interested members may register to attend the Council meeting. UAW members or workers on active UAW organizing campaigns in the higher education sector may attend the Council meetings but only elected council delegates will be able to vote.

Now Hiring: Communications Data Specialist

Are you a full-stack developer who wants to build websites and crunch data to help workers organize and build power? Do you have experience organizing and/or know Solidarity Tech? Join the mighty UAW as a data specialist. Learn more and apply at Indeed.

SOLIDARITY REQUESTS

Maine AFL-CIO: Stand with Nurses at Central Maine Medical Center

Nurses at Central Maine Medical Center recently organized a union because they saw the quality of care their patients were receiving was in a downfall. Ever since Prime Healthcare (a national for-profit company) bought CMMC, the nurses have seen firsthand how patient care has been compromised. 

Despite an overwhelming vote to unionize (over 90%), Prime fired or suspended 20 nurses in illegal retaliation. This shameful act is the most blatant anti-union attack we have seen in Maine in decades. It's time for the community to come together to support these nurses in their fight for quality patient care for their community.

Here's how you can help:

  1. Attend the town hall meeting on Tuesday, November 17, at 6 PM at the Lewiston Public Library. Come here from the nurses first hand about their fight against Prime and how you can help,
  2. Testify at the public hearing the State of Maine is holding as to whether Prime has failed to maintain the standard of care required by their state-issued certificate of need. The hearing is Friday, November 20, at 2 PM, both online and in-person at Central Maine Community College in Auburn.
  3. Put up a lawn sign. Email Sam@maineaflcio.org if you live in Androscoggin County and are willing to put a lawn sign up at your house in support of the CMMC nurses.
  4. Share your story. Have you or your family been a patient at CMMC? The community deserves quality health care, and your stories of your experiences at CMMC are very helpful. Contact Sam@maineaflcio.org if you have a patient story at CMMC. 

Nurses show up for our communities and our families every single day. Right now, they are fighting for us but they need our help. Let's show up and have their backs, and let Prime know we won't rest until the nurses are re-instated and they sit down and bargain a fair first contract.

Western Mass AFL Presents: Labor Resisting the AI Hype
Saturday, November 14 | 10:30 AM - 1 PM | Springfield, MA

Are you seeing AI show up in your workplace? Do you wonder what questions to ask or how to address AI at the bargaining table? The Western Mass Area Labor Federation invites you to an interactive training where you’ll explore what AI looks like in your workplace and have an opportunity to practice negotiating about it. The training will consist of four parts: 

  • A brief informational session on how AI is currently being used in the workplace;
  • Small group discussion and report back in which leadership, staff, and/or rank and file share their own experience of AI in the workplace;
  • A bargaining simulation in which participants attempt to negotiate AI language with a large hospital; and
  • A debrief for collecting feedback on the training

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!

Hiring Hall

UPCOMING EVENTS

2027 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference
January 14-17, 2027 | Washington, DC

Save the Date: 2027 UAW Financial Officers Conference
March 14 - 19, 2027 | San Diego, CA