Still fighting for all workers

Signs of the times

The UAW’s history of tomorrow is being written today as the union carries on its 70-year tradition of fighting for social and economic justice for union members, retirees, their families and all working people.

In 1935 the struggle was to win the right of workers to organize a union without interference or intimidation from their employers. We also fought to achieve income security for our old age. In the 1950s, the UAW was in the forefront for guaranteed, government-provided health care insurance for every American.

All these years later, we continue the fight for the right to organize, workers’ rights and health care for all. And we fight for fair trade in a global economy where free trade policies create a race to the bottom for workers in all countries.

As long as there are people who work, there will be unions – and the UAW will be a union that fights for the interests of all workers.

Photo: DWIGHT CENDROWSKI	With union membership in the private sector at a 100-year low, the UAW and the labor movement are fighting for the right to organize all over again. The right to vote for a union without threat or harassment should be a given in any free society. But in America, a worker’s right to freely vote for a union has been systematically taken away by professional union-busting law firms, increasingly hostile employers, conservative court decisions and pro-business politicians.
Corporations want ‘free trade’ so they can be free to exploit poor workers from around the world and freely pollute the air and water wherever they go. The UAW wants fair trade because we want to help raise the living standards of workers in low-wage countries while protecting our jobs from being shipped overseas.	Photo: RICK REINHARDT
Photo: JEANNE FREIBERT STUDIO	Seventy years after passage of the National Labor Relations Act, UAW members continue to fight for the right of workers to form unions. We support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act that would allow union recognition through card-signing, provide mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes, and establish stronger penalties for employer violations.

Photo: REBECCA COOK

UAW members will continue to march until we win quality and affordable health care for every American. The UAW advocates a comprehensive, universal, single-payer, national health care plan for every person in the United States.

photo: GEORGE WALDMAN

If you’re a young worker starting out, listen to your grandparents. They know that a guaranteed monthly check from Social Security is a better deal than a chance to gamble away your nest egg in the stock market. Strengthening Social Security doesn’t mean undermining a program that has worked for 70 years.