United Auto Workers
Introduction
About the UAW
Who makes up the UAW
The UAW is made up of workers from many parts of the American economy. Workers belong to firms in sectors including the Automotive, Aerospace and Defense, Heavy Trucks, Farm and Heavy Equipment industries, other kinds of manufacturing, as well as Technical, Office, and Professional (TOP) [1]. At the present, there are about 640,000 active members (500,000 retired members) with members in US, Canada, Puerto Rico. The UAW consists of over 800 local unions, and is considered one of the largest unions in North America. Moreover, there exists a solidarity between the active and retired members of the UAW – many retired UAW members still take part in their union.
What the UAW does
The UAW is an organization that, through bargaining, works to obtain social and economic advances for working families and retired workers. The UAW has made several important advances through bargaining for its members such as: an insurance plan for industrial workers paid for by employers, cost-of-living allowances, product quality improvements, significant job and income security provisions, and widespread training and educational programs. However, bargaining is not the only focus of this union which also focuses on and has taken a part in many civil rights actions. Because the union is so large, most of its everyday actions take place on a local level, the local unions are fairly autonomous.
History
The UAW was founded in 1935 in Detroit Michigan with the support of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). It was one of the earliest key unions that allowed for the organization of African Americans. It achieved and initial victory through organization with several sit-down strikes in an Atlanta General Motors plant and in the Flint sit-down strike. It was in 1937 the the UAW strike against GM ended with this company's decision to recognize the UAW.
Modern Struggles
References
http://www.2110uaw.org/gsoc/gsoc_strike_photos.htm
http://www.aflcionc.org/nationals.htm
