United Auto Workers facts for kids

"UAW" redirects here. For other uses, see UAW (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids
United Auto Workers

Abbreviation	UAW
Formation	1935; 90 years ago (1935)
Type	Trade union
Headquarters	Detroit, Michigan, US
Location	United States Ontario, Canada
Membership (2022)	391,000 (active) 580,000 (retired)
President	Shawn Fain
Secessions	Canadian Auto Workers
Affiliations	AFL–CIO Canadian Labour Congress IndustriALL Global Union
Revenue (2020)	$288 million
Endowment (2020)	$1.027 billion

The United Auto Workers (UAW) is a large group of workers, also known as a trade union. Its full name is the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. The UAW helps workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and parts of Canada.

It started in the 1930s and quickly grew. The UAW became known for helping car factory workers get better pay and benefits. However, its membership later decreased. This happened because of things like more machines doing jobs, factories moving, and global changes. After a big strike in 2023, the union successfully organized its first foreign-owned car plant in 2024.

Today, UAW members work in many areas. These include car manufacturing, healthcare, casinos, and colleges. The union's main office is in Detroit, Michigan. As of 2022, the UAW has over 391,000 active members and more than 580,000 retired members. They have agreements with about 1,600 employers.

History of the UAW
Workers in Technical, Office, and Professional Roles
UAW Presidents
See also

History of the UAW

Starting the Union in the 1930s

The UAW began in May 1935 in Detroit, Michigan. It was first part of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL usually focused on organizing skilled workers. But a new group, the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), wanted to organize workers in large factories. The UAW joined this new CIO group.

The UAW quickly found a powerful way to organize: the "sit-down strike." This is when workers stop working but stay inside the factory. This prevents the company from bringing in new workers. The first big sit-down strike was at a General Motors Corporation plant in Atlanta in 1936.

The Flint Sit-Down Strike

A very famous sit-down strike happened in Flint, Michigan, starting in December 1936. This strike lasted until February 1937. The governor of Michigan helped solve the problem. General Motors finally agreed to recognize the UAW as the workers' union. Soon after, workers at Chrysler also won union recognition through a sit-down strike. By mid-1937, the UAW had 150,000 members. It spread quickly through car-making towns.

Taking on Ford Motor Company

The UAW then aimed to organize the Ford Motor Company. Ford had strongly resisted unions. Henry Ford and his security chief, Harry Bennett, used force to keep the union out. Ford's security department even used violence against union organizers. This included a famous event called the Battle of the Overpass.

It was hard for the UAW to get Black workers at Ford to join. Many older Black community members felt loyal to Henry Ford. He had hired them when other car companies would not. Also, some feared they would risk their jobs but then be ignored by the union.

However, on May 21, 1941, Ford employees, including most Black workers, voted to join the UAW. On June 20, 1941, Ford agreed to a contract with the UAW. This agreement included a special rule against discrimination. It said the contract applied to all employees "without discrimination on account of race, color, national origin, sex, or creed." This rule was written by Shelton Tappes, a Black worker at Ford.

Some early UAW organizers were Communists. They held important roles in some union branches. However, Walter Reuther and his allies worked to remove Communist leaders from the UAW.

The UAW learned that to be a strong union, it had to control its members. This meant stopping "wildcat strikes," which are strikes not approved by the union. UAW leaders realized they needed to show they were a disciplined and responsible organization.

The UAW During World War II

World War II changed how the UAW operated. The union's leaders promised not to strike during the war. This was to make sure war production was not stopped. Even though some members disagreed, the promise was kept. As factories started making tanks and airplanes, the UAW organized new groups of workers. Its membership reached over a million by 1944. In that same year, Lillian Hatcher became the first Black woman to represent the UAW internationally.

After the War: New Agreements

After the war, the UAW went on strike against General Motors for 113 days in late 1945. They wanted more say in how the company was run. GM offered higher wages but refused to share power. The union eventually settled for a wage increase. The UAW then worked with GM to get more and more benefits for workers through talks.

Walter Reuther's Leadership

Walter Reuther became the UAW president in 1946 and led the union until his death in 1970. This was a very good time for workers in the U.S. Reuther focused on getting good yearly wages for members.

He would pick one of the three biggest car makers (General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler). If that company didn't offer good deals, he would call a strike. This would make the other two companies sell more cars.

In 1950, Reuther made a very important agreement with General Motors, known as Reuther's Treaty of Detroit. Through this, the UAW got companies to pay for pensions (money for retirement) at Chrysler and medical insurance at GM. In 1955, they got extra unemployment benefits at Ford. Many smaller companies followed these examples.

The UAW also started representing workers in other big industries. These included airplane makers and companies that made farm equipment.

In 1968, the UAW left the AFL-CIO, another big union group. This happened because Reuther and the AFL-CIO president disagreed on many things. Reuther then formed a new group called the Alliance for Labor Action with the Teamsters union. Their goal was to organize more workers. However, Reuther's death in a plane crash in 1970 greatly hurt this new alliance.

In 1948, the UAW started a radio station, WDET, in Detroit. They sold it to Wayne State University in 1952.

Politics and Worker Rights

The UAW leaders supported government programs like the New Deal and the Great Society. They also strongly supported civil rights for all people. After removing its Communist leaders in the late 1940s, the UAW became very anti-Communist.

The UAW used ideas of national unity to fight for the rights of Black workers. However, some Black workers felt the union did not do enough to address unfair treatment in workplaces and housing. Groups like the League of Revolutionary Black Workers questioned the UAW's leadership in the 1960s and 1970s.

The UAW was a major supporter of the first Earth Day in 1970. Many say that without the UAW, Earth Day might not have been successful.

Changes from 1970 to 2010

In the 1970s, rising fuel prices made U.S. car makers lose sales to foreign companies. These foreign companies made more fuel-efficient cars. This led to job losses and lower wages for UAW members. The union had to give up some benefits it had won over the years.

By the early 1980s, car-making states were struggling. Chrysler even almost went bankrupt in 1979. In 1985, the UAW's Canadian division left the union. They formed their own union, the Canadian Auto Workers, because they disagreed on how to negotiate.

The UAW lost many members after the 1970s. Membership dropped from 1.5 million in 1979 to 540,000 in 2006. During the economic crisis of 2008-2010, General Motors and Chrysler went through major financial restructuring. UAW membership fell to 390,000 active members by 2010.

The 21st Century UAW

Some people say the UAW helped the car industry recover in the 21st century. Others blame the union's past demands for high benefits for the industry's problems. UAW workers used to have more generous benefits than workers at non-union Japanese car plants in the U.S. However, the UAW says that most of this cost difference came from paying pensions and healthcare for retired members, which Japanese carmakers did not have.

After 2007, the starting wage for new UAW workers was lowered. It became lower than the average wage in non-union car companies in the South.

One benefit the UAW had was a "jobs bank" program. This paid laid-off members almost all of their regular pay and benefits. In 2008, the UAW agreed to stop this program to help U.S. carmakers during the crisis.

The UAW has said that the main reason for the car industry's struggles was high fuel costs. This made customers stop buying large SUVs and pickup trucks, which were the main products of American car companies. Also, American cars were sometimes seen as lower quality than Japanese or European cars.

The UAW has tried to get more members by organizing workers outside of the "Big Three" car companies. In 2014, workers at Volkswagen's plant in Tennessee voted against joining the UAW. However, the UAW later formed a smaller union group there.

The UAW is also active in Michigan politics. It opposed a "right-to-work" law that passed in 2012. The union is still a major part of the state's Democratic Party.

In March 2020, the UAW announced that carmakers would temporarily shut down factories. This was done to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

While known for car workers, academic staff also make up a quarter of UAW members. In 2022, a strike by academic workers at the University of California led to higher pay for those UAW members.

Workers in Technical, Office, and Professional Roles

In 1989, a union called District 65, which included office and professional workers, joined the UAW.

In 2008, over 6,500 postdoctoral scholars (researchers who have finished their PhDs) at the University of California joined the UAW. This created the largest union for postdoctoral scholars in the country: UAW Local 5810.

The UAW's expansion into academic fields, especially for postdoctoral researchers, was important. It helped these researchers get better pay and more rights and protections.

UAW Presidents

1935–1936: Francis J. Dillon
1936–1938: Homer Martin
1938–1946: R. J. Thomas
1946-1970: Walter Reuther
1970–1977: Leonard F. Woodcock
1977–1983: Douglas Fraser
1983–1995: Owen Bieber
1995–2002: Stephen Yokich
2002–2010: Ron Gettelfinger
2010–2014: Bob King
2014–June 2018: Dennis Williams
June 2018 – November 2, 2019: Gary Jones
November 3, 2019 – June 30, 2021: Rory Gamble
July 1, 2021 – March 25, 2023: Ray Curry
March 26, 2023 – Present: Shawn Fain