IRONIC: Union employees strike against the UAW, accuse it of union-busting

Employees at the United Auto Workers, the sixth-largest union in America, have gone on strike against the union this week in Manhattan, but you wouldn’t know it from the legacy media’s silence.

UAW Staff United, which represents hundreds of employees across 34 locals, announced its strike Monday, and Thursday marks the fourth day of picketing in New York City.

According to UAW Staff United (USU), the strike comes “in response to the bad-faith bargaining committed by the UAW throughout our negotiation process and the retaliatory termination of a union leader.”

UAW hires temporary organizers, who work on three-month contracts renewable for up to three years. USU is demanding “job security through stable staffing and just cause protections for these workers—which together would constitute an end to an exploitive, tiered system of employment for USU staff.” Specific demands include severance payments, two months’ notice of layoffs, and sick days.

“We want to make sure that this job is not only sustainable, but also sets up staff to better support our campaigns,” Rita Akincillar, a spokeswoman for the USU, said in a statement Monday. “Management’s insistence on being able to lay us off on a whim shows gross disregard for our needs and the needs of the UAW rank and file.”

The USU also claims that UAW leadership “has decided to cut off all striking workers’ pay.”

The USU posted photos of the striking workers.

UAW staffer (and USU member) Molly Ragan wrote on X that “UAW pulled a classic corporate boss move and cut all striking workers’ pay yesterday.”

“It’s strike day 2, and we are angry and determined to make this place better for staff organizers and the members we organize alongside,” she added. “Cut our pay, cut our health care, we are not going away.”

The USU targeted the offices of labor lawyers who represent the UAW.

The legacy media appear not to have covered the strike in downtown Manhattan. The pro-union outlet Payday Report covered the strike and condemned “so many labor journalists” for ignoring the story.

As The Washington Times reported in September, UAW Staff United accused the UAW of stalling contract negotiations and illegally terminating the contract of a labor organizer.

UAW Staff United launched in March after the election of UAW President Shawn Fain, who ran as a reform candidate following a series of corruption scandals.

An independent UAW monitor is investigating Fain on accusations that he participated in retaliation against other labor leaders this year. Fain welcomed the investigation and claimed that he is “committed to serving the membership and running a democratic union.”

The “retaliatory termination of a union leader” refers to temporary organizer Alex Chan, who was terminated at the end of September. According to the USU, the firing marks the first time a temporary organizer has been terminated before the end of a three-year term.

USU claims the UAW terminated Chan in retaliation for her part in forming the union last year.

“Terminating me doesn’t just hurt me as an individual; it hurts the union drives and thousands of union members that I’m supporting & organizing with,” Chan wrote on X. “UAW needs to afford its staff the same basic rights, just cause, and job security as the UAW workers that we fight for.”

As the Left has consciously embraced unions, many left-leaning nonprofits have unionized, notably including groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Staff at the SPLC unionized after a racial discrimination and sexual harassment scandal at the nonprofit in 2019. When the SPLC reorganized earlier this year, the union accused the organization of union-busting.

Neither the USU nor the UAW responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]