UE Statements

UE stands in full solidarity with the rank-and-file UAW members on strike against General Motors’ corporate greed.

The 2020 presidential primary and general elections will be of historic importance for workers, our union, the labor movement, and our country. The issues that will define these elections are already becoming clear. Union members and locals need to inform ourselves about the issues and the candidates, their records and visions for the community and the country.

The UE General Executive Board encourages UE members and locals to participate fully in discussions about the challenge of climate change and the eventual replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy, and participate in the movements and organizations proposing solutions. We have an incredible opportunity to transform our society to a more worker-supportive and community-controlled economy and nation. We must not waste this opportunity.

The current federal shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, is an unconscionable attack on federal workers and all who depend on federal government services for safety and sustenance, from airline workers to food stamp recipients. It is also a sign of deeper problems in our economy and society, and the failure of political “leaders” from both parties to address them. Only a working-class movement, rooted in unions willing to stand up and take militant actions for the entire working class, can move us forward.

On Monday, the US administration announced an outline of a possible trade deal with Mexico. The projected framework offers few details about improving workers’ living and working conditions and the enforcement of labor and environmental standards. Furthermore, it completely excludes Canada which means it is no longer a North American agreement.

UE's General Executive Board issued the following statement on August 24

In 2016, presidential candidate Donald Trump stood in front of the Carrier manufacturing plant in Indianapolis and promised Carrier’s workers that he would save their jobs. In 2017, as Republicans in Congress prepared a massive tax giveaway to corporations and the wealthy, they named their bill the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” promising that the beneficiaries of their largesse would turn around and invest that money in creating good jobs.

Declaración de la junta general ejecutiva de la UE

In 2003 the Bush administration took advantage of the climate of fear caused by the September 11 terror attacks to double down on attacks on immigrants. The Bush administration created the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) department to replace the functions and purpose of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Instead of a service to support and manage immigration, ICE has become a military force that criminalizes immigrants and asylum seekers...

UE policy, passed by delegates to our 75th Convention last August, calls for “an end to mass incarceration.” The militarization of immigration policy, begun when ICE was established, has resulted in mass incarceration of immigrants, including children, in detention centers reminiscent of concentration camps. Therefore, we join the call made by immigrant rights groups and others to abolish ICE and replace it with a demilitarized immigration agency supportive of people’s civil, human, and asylum rights free from repression and persecution.

The right-wing, anti-worker majority on the Supreme Court issued a ruling today against public-sector workers and their unions. In Janus v. AFSCME, five of the Supreme Court justices agreed with the billionaire- and corporate-funded National Right to Work Committee that public-sector unions should not be allowed to collect “fair share” fees from the workers they represent.

The UE General Executive Board, meeting in Pittsburgh from June 5-8, 2018, adopted a statement condemning the killing of Palestinian protesters and attacks on the First Amendment rights of Americans to engage in peaceful protest of Israel's military policies.