Elections for UE’s three top officer positions were held on Wednesday afternoon, August 27. Scott Slawson, the president of UE Local 506 in Erie, PA, was elected General President. Secretary-Treasurer Andrew Dinkelaker was re-elected as Secretary-Treasurer, and UE Staff Coordinator Kim Lawson was elected as Director of Organization.
Scott Slawson has been a member of Local 506 for two decades. He has served as a shop steward, a divisional chief steward and executive board member, and as local president since 2014. During national negotiations with General Electric in 2015, he co-chaired the committee that coordinated bargaining between 13 different unions. After the Erie plant was sold to Wabtec in 2019 he led two strikes: a nine-day strike in 2019 immediately after Wabtec took over the plant and refused to maintain existing conditions, and a 70-day strike in 2023 during negotiations for a second contract.
Local 256 President Lauren Chua nominated Slawson, saying that “he is the leader our union needs for the coming period. With humility and resolve, Scott believes that everyone has a role to play in this union. He has endless patience for all members, but won't take any bullcrap from the boss.” Local 506 Business Agent John Miles seconded the nomination, saying that Slawson “has led us through one of the most challenging times in our local history. He has worked tirelessly to bring unity to our membership through increased transparency, communication and integrity … [and] the membership has responded with significantly increased participation, a feeling of inclusion and pride in being a member of UE Local 506.”
Andrew Dinkelaker, who has served as Secretary-Treasurer since 2011, was nominated by Local 1118 President Delores Phillips, a member of the General Executive Board. Phillips praised his commitment to the organization and “his explanations and his patience” as the GEB dealt with sometimes difficult financial matters. Local 329 President Bud Decker, also a member of the GEB, seconded the nomination, listing the numerous measures that Dinkelaker had taken to keep the union financially afloat over the past decade, efforts which have paid off: Decker noted that “We have money in the strike and defense fund for the first time, in I really don't know how long, but a long time, and we're not deficit spending.”
Kim Lawson began her career in the labor movement as a staff writer for the United Farm Workers. She joined the UE staff in 1989, and has led 17 successful organizing drives, including those that brought in UE”s first nonprofit workers (CVOEO, Local 221, in 1992), university support staff (University of Vermont, Local 267, in 1997), food co-op workers (City Market, Local 203, and Hunger Mountain, Local 255, in 2003), and federal Service Contract Act workers (Vermont Service Center, Local 208, in 2008). She has also helped bargain 17 first contracts, including UE’s first SCA contracts at Local 208 and its sister Local 1008 (California Service Center), and three graduate worker locals’ first contracts (Local 1466 at the University of New Mexico, Local 1103 at the University of Chicago, and Local 1122 at Northwestern University). She will be the first woman to serve as Director of Organization, and the second woman to serve UE as a national officer.
Lawson was nominated by Local 1466 President Ramona Malczynski, who said that she “learned so much about integrity and commitment to the struggle” from Lawson, who assisted Local 1466 in negotiating their first contract. “Though Kim was our lead negotiator, she always put our voices first and made sure we were empowered and informed to write our own proposals, go toe to toe with the university's unionbusting lawyer, and make our own decisions at the table.” Vanessa Jones, Local 506, seconded the nomination, saying, “As we negotiate many of the grad locals' second contracts, build more diverse leadership in our union, and confront the increasing attacks on the working class, there is no better person to be our next Director of Organization.”
All three elections were contested. International Representative Tara McCauley also ran for General President; Chris Wilson, Local 1103, also ran for Secretary-Treasurer; and Eastern Region President George Waksmunski also ran for Director of Organization.