UE Political Action Updates

UE leaders helped two UE-endorsed candidates celebrate their swearing-in on Thursday, January 3. Western Region President Carl Rosen and his wife Josie Yanguas travelled to Washington, DC for the swearing-in reception of Congressman Jesús Chuy García, a longtime UE ally in Chicago. They were joined by retired UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley and retired UE Political Action Director Chris Townsend. In Western Pennsylvania, Local 610 President Antwon Gibson joined newly-elected State Representative Summer Lee at a celebration in Swissvale.

On November 6, Democrats took control of the House of Representatives by a decisive margin, providing a much-needed check on the anti-worker agenda of the Republican party and opening new possibilities to advance Medicare for All single-payer healthcare and a “Green New Deal” to create jobs while addressing the challenge of climate change. The newly elected Democrats are significantly younger, more female, and more racially diverse than Congress has been in the past, and include the first two Muslim women and the first two Native American women elected to Congress.

UE stands in full solidarity with the CUT labor federation, the CNM metalworkers’ union, and the rest of Brazil’s unions and social movements, who will be key to defeating Bolsonaro in the October 28 runoff election. We urge the maximum possible worldwide unity against the threat of fascism.

On September 30 the U.S., Canada and Mexico announced that they had agreed on a new “U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement” to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new trade pact contains modest improvements for workers, but falls far short of the transformative changes demanded by the labor and progressive movements. It also includes new corporate giveaways, especially to banks, pharmaceutical companies, tech companies and the energy industry.