In between UE conventions, the elected General Executive Board and national officers issue statements applying UE policy to specific issues of the day. UE policy is set by rank-and-file delegates to our biennial national convention.
The “conviction” and jailing of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, leader of the Brazilian labor movement and Workers Party candidate for President in the upcoming election this fall, is a travesty and crime against the people of Brazil and working people around the world. Lula, who served as President of Brazil from 2004-2012, has been jailed by a right-wing, anti-worker government without evidence or proof.
UE fully supports the striking teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky, and teachers who are contemplating strikes in Arizona.
Lo que los trabajadores requieren en Estados Unidos no son medias medidas, sino una política industrial que se base en la cooperación internacional, en el respeto a los derechos de los trabajadores y en la sostenibilidad ambiental; una política que eleve los niveles de vida de los trabajadores en las industrias, que se expanda más allá de las fronteras y que invierta en infraestructura, en empleos y programas sociales.
What American workers need is not partial half-measures, but a trade and industrial policy that is based on international cooperation, respect for workers’ rights, and environmental sustainability — one that raises living standards for workers across industries and across borders through investment in infrastructure, jobs and social programs.
Last Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled the misnamed “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.” As expected, this plan is a massive tax giveaway to the billionaires and corporations who fund the campaigns of politicians like Ryan. It will not cut taxes for working people, nor will it create jobs.
UE stands in full opposition to President Trump’s decision this week to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, and in solidarity with those taking action to resist it.
White supremacists and neo-Nazi organizers emboldened by Trump’s presidency see the Trump era as their time and Trump has done absolutely nothing to discourage them. UE condemns the attack on Charlottesville VA and promises to continue organizing in our workplaces and communities to fight racism, fascism and bigotry.
At its quarterly meeting the UE General Executive Board adopted the following statement on the Trump administration's plans to renegotiate NAFTA.
RENEGOTIATION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA)
United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)
The election of Donald Trump, while very disturbing, should not come as a complete shock. For the past several decades the political establishment in both parties has advanced a set of policies known as neoliberalism that has made life harder for working people. Neoliberalism includes free trade, deregulation, privatization, and dismantling the social safety net, and it has been pursued aggressively by Republican administrations since Reagan, and Democratic administrations starting with Bill Clinton. This election year brought rebellion in both parties against what Bernie Sanders called “establishment politics and establishment economics.” That rebellion took the form, in the Democratic primaries, of the inclusive progressive populism of Sanders, and on the Republican side, the authoritarian, bigoted populism of Trump.