UE NEWS Updates

From June 12-14, thousands of union members from across the country, including over 30 from UE, gathered in Chicago for the 2026 Labor Notes Conference. The conference this year focused on the labor movement taking an offensive stance against not only the boss but broader authoritarianism.

One hundred and twenty-five years ago today, 82 metal workers, guests, and allies gathered in the city of Livorno to found the Federazione Impiegati Operai Metallurgici (Federation of Metalworkers), Italy’s militant metalworkers’ union, which, over the past eleven years, has become one of UE’s closest international allies. UE General President Scott Slawson sent a letter to FIOM General Secretary Michele De Palma congratulating FIOM on their anniversary.

UE General President Scott Slawson sent a letter today to members of the Metal Workers Union of the Argentine Republic (UOM), expressing UE’s solidarity with UOM members after the government removed their democratically-elected leaders. In May, the National Labor Appeals Court ordered a 180-day judicial intervention in UOM, annulling the re-election of General Secretary Abel Furlán.

In addition to discussing UE’s organizational, educational, political action and international work, GEB members debated and approved a statement on the use of “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) technology. Originally drafted by a group of rank-and-file members from UE’s higher education locals, the statement “AI for Public Good, Not Private Profit” calls for “public and worker control of Artificial Intelligence technologies, and for the end of their use for mass surveillance and as weapons of war.”