Delivery Direct: Q&A with the Director
UAW is about justice and equality
The entire UAW International Executive Board (IEB) recently led a rally for members of Local 1832 at Peterbilt in Madison, Tenn. What’s going on down there?
Last September, PACCAR, the parent company of Peterbilt, locked 750 workers out when the contract expired instead of giving the union information, as required by law, that it needed to negotiate a good contract. PACCAR also refused to accept the union’s offer to continue working under an extension of the old contract until a new agreement was reached.
The rally was very uplifting and heartening. There were about 2,500 people in front of the Peterbilt plant to support Local 1832 members. UAW members came from Indiana, Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts, Virginia, Delaware, New York and Tennessee to show their support. Jobs with Justice, a labor-community-religious coalition, PACE, the Teamsters, the building trades and other unions turned out, too.
Managers are continuing to build trucks in Madison while the non-union Denton, Texas, plant is producing some of the trucks that our members would normally build at the Tennessee plant.
In addition, PACCAR sent 500 of the workers a layoff notice in late August before the lockout, failing to give them the 60-day notice required under the federal Worker Adjustment, Retraining, and Notification (WARN) Act. The UAW has filed suit in federal court for the wages and benefits that the company would have paid had it given proper notice.
The International Union continues to pay the locked-out workers’ insurance and special strike pay. Hopefully by the time you read this, Local 1832 members will be working under a new contract.
Raising a family is expensive these days. How will donating to V-CAP help them?
Yes, it is expensive, but so are having legislators and legislation geared to serve the ultra rich and the large corporations. First off, let me explain what V-CAP is. By law, union dues can’t be used to support federal candidates. But members can choose to make a voluntary political contribution to the International Union’s political action fund, UAW V-CAP. That stands for Voluntary Community Action Program. This money is used to support candidates that we have endorsed for public office. Our goal is to protect our collective bargaining gains through political action.
UAW V-CAP is one of 350 labor political action committees. The same law allows management to set up PACs. There were 4,149 PACs registered with the Federal Election Commission at the end of last year. The list included 1,275 corporations; 900 trade/health membership associations; 1,362 non-connected; 41 cooperative and 121 corporations without stock.
Many of the other PACs are anti-labor, right wing organizations that want to weaken and destroy the UAW and all unions.
Unions have fought for legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. The UAW’s struggle continues for legislation for universal health care, improvements in Medicare and Medicaid, labor law reform and veterans’ issues — legislation that improves our lives, the lives of our families and the lives of all around us.
A good and recent example of why we must be involved in politics is the right-to-work bill introduced in the Kentucky House and Senate last February. Senators that we have supported and alerted about this bill were able to send it back to the Senate Economic Development, Tourism and Labor Committee because the votes in the Senate to pass the bill simply weren’t there.
The budget numbers for V-CAP are pretty straight forward: a $1 a month contribution is less than a nickel a day, while $3 a month is only a dime a day and so on. Even that little bit can add up to a much-needed campaign fund.
Why does the UAW support affirmative action?
Discrimination persists in U.S. society, even today. It exists in the way people are hired, in the way banks extend credit and how mortgage companies lend money for buying a home. It exists in insurance premiums for life, homeowner and auto insurance. It exists in health care, educational opportunities and housing.
It exists in the media, both in the news reported and in those reporting the news.
Affirmative action is a way to address the systematic discrimination, denial and exclusion of people with talent because of their gender or race. It is a way to ensure that everyone can exercise their constitutional rights and have the opportunity to grow, act, achieve and contribute to this society freely.
Affirmative action is not about quotas, which are illegal. It is not about giving unqualified people jobs. Affirmative action is about ensuring that we genuinely provide an equal opportunity for all.
The UAW is about justice and equality for all. But until discrimination is a thing of the past, the UAW will continue to promote and defend affirmative action as an effective way to end discrimination.
