The 79th UE Convention unanimously adopted five resolutions dealing with racism, women’s rights, immigrant rights, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability rights. Over 50 delegates, alternates, and guests— roughly a quarter of those in attendance — rose to speak on these resolutions, addressing both the harms caused by various forms of bigotry and the importance of talking openly about them in order to promote healing and forge working-class unity. Several speakers shared deeply personal stories, and many received standing ovations.
“Yes, racism is real”
In a powerful session on Wednesday morning, delegates considered the resolutions “Fight Racism” and “Advance Women’s Rights.” The first delegate to speak on the “Fight Racism” resolution, Cedric Whelchel, Local 1177, said the resolution “hits home because I’ve seen it first hand, I’ve witnessed it — my parents, my grandparents have witnessed it.” He related, “My family had to leave the South because my father was running for his life” after being falsely accused of a crime by a white woman. “So yes, racism is real,” he concluded.
Antwon Gibson, Eastern Region, similarly related how his great-great-grandparents were forced to move to the North, from Alabama and South Carolina. “They were running because they were still being lynched after emancipation.” Delores Phillips, Local 1118, shared how her parents came to Chicago because of discrimination they faced in Arkansas and Nebraska. Patrice Jacobs, Local 150, reminded delegates that “racism is everywhere,” and spoke about the racism she faced growing up in Boston in the 1970s. Larry Hopkins, Local 1177, simply declared, “Racism is a disease.”
Olivier Kigotho, Local 256, described how Trump’s attacks on higher education “have dismantled the opportunities that Black people have,” and that in MIT’s aerospace engineering department, where he is the local’s steward, “the incoming class has zero Black people coming in.” Julius Thomas, Local 667, said that discussions of racism are often met with a sense of “fatigue,” but that such fatigue “pales in comparison to the fatigue that Black people feel, having dealt with these things for generations.”
Evan Dong, Local 300, addressed the history of Asian-American workers being excluded from many types of employment, and the shameful participation of much of the labor movement in that exclusion. “I just want to say thank you for beginning to heal these wounds that [began] over a century ago in the labor movement,” they concluded.
“It’s very painful that we have to keep talking about this,” said Scott Slawson, Local 506, who said that he had spoken on this resolution at every UE convention since the first one he attended, in 2013. “When you sit down and start listening to people tell their story, and you start to realize in that story how differently you were raised or how differently you were treated, how differently things were for you than it was for them, you start to share that pain, and it's only [through] sharing that pain that we can heal.”
“Racism affects the working class and we all pay a price for it,” declared Eastern Region President George Waksmunski, who credited joining UE with “saving” him, as a white man, “from the ignorance of racism.” Margaret Dabrowski, Local 222, noted that, “Racism is taught, and as such it can be un-taught.”
“I can speak to you as a Palestinian-American about how this tool of racism is used systemically not only to oppress us, but to divide us,” said Omar Kazi, Local 1103. “They fear us when we are united — that is where our strength lies.”
Patryce Perry and Sekia Royall, Local 150, April Ma, Local 197, Rhiis Buswell, Local 228, Toby Madrone, Local 255, Tina Barnes, Local 506, Tony Hall, Local 690, Sophie Brauer and Abaki Beck, Local 1105, Mounica Sreesai, Local 1122, Jason Fuhrman, Local 1186, and Ramona Malczynski and Jay Jay Rawson, Local 1466, also spoke on the resolution.
“A union where women’s leadership is respected”
The resolution “Advance Women’s Rights” also brought many delegates to the microphones, and prompted an honest and open discussion about the barriers that many members still face in fully participating in their own union.
“In my short term as president it’s been so much harder for me than for men to be taken seriously,” said Ewa Nizalowska, Local 300. “Even though I was elected to lead my union, I sometimes feel like I have to prove every day that I am worthy of the position.” She described how “tons of small slights … can cause and have caused women in this union to not feel empowered to lead, and to exclude themselves from leadership before they even have a chance to lead at all. I'm in support of this resolution because I want to build a union where women's leadership is respected, encouraged and celebrated.”
Mounica Sreesai, Local 1122, said that when she and other women of color “stood up to be leaders … we were constantly criticized for not running the union like a man, because a good leader has man-like characteristics: is aggressive, loud and violent. But there are many other qualities of a leader that we do not value because those are more gendered qualities that are generally devalued in the world.”
Ksenia Podvoiskaia, Local 1103, said that for a long time, “I didn't particularly see any need for myself to take on any sort of leadership role, because I had such full trust that I was being well represented.” However, she said, “one thing that happened almost immediately, once I did take on a leadership role, is that I heard people and women come and talk to me about why they hadn't been involved or didn't feel comfortable getting involved in organizing and their departments and their areas previously.” Building a strong union, she said, requires “leadership that isn't just going to call themselves feminists, but is going to stand up and defend and uplift the women and gender non-conforming people they work with.”
Toby Madrone, Local 255, said, ”I find in my own local and at other levels that sometimes people think that by naming problems that we may face within our union, we're causing disunity.” But, they pointed out, “You have to name things in order to heal them, and you have to heal to get to unity.”
Tonia Bohman and Vanessa Jones, Local 506, explained how women in their local have organized a women’s committee. “We, as women, we have a fight and if we don't stand together, it's going to be hard. … It's our fight and we're going to win it. Because that's what women do. We win here.” Later in the discussion, Local 506 President Scott Slawson rose to “thank my sisters for coming to me and wanting to form a women’s committee.” He also reported that “The GEB did pass a motion to bring sexual harassment training not just to GEB members but to the staff as well, something that I encourage every local to look into.”
Cedric Whelchel, Local 1177, described the abuse that women in his family had suffered at the hands of men. Michael Tomaloff, Local 1186, suggested that men need to hold other men accountable.
Kala Collett, Local 728, proudly announced that her local was led by women, but that their operations manager does not respect them and “tries to talk down to us all the time.”
Many delegates, including Collett, also spoke about the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, the importance of women’s access to abortion, and their own experiences with reproductive health.
“As an older woman, I have been fortunate enough to see where we rose to the cause to bring Roe v. Wade as the law of the land,” said Dawn Meyer, Local 808. “I was also deeply saddened to see that go away.
“We have the autonomy to decide what to do with our bodies, whether that means that we have a child, or whether that means we do not have a child. That is our right!” she declared, to a standing ovation.
Sophie Nighswander, Local 696, described how she and her co-workers at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania have been inundated with patients from across the country since the overturning of Roe: “We had patients who would come from Kentucky, from Ohio, from Tennessee, all the way from Louisiana to come to Pittsburgh, because we were the closest option for them to get the care they needed.” She also pointed out that, “Wealthy women, no matter where they live, can always get this care. They can just travel. But for the working class, that's not an option.”
Other speakers on the resolution were Patrice Jacobs and Sekia Royall, Local 150, Annelissa Ouafi, Local 203, Lauren Chua, Local 256, Karleen Torrence, Local 618, Iris Powell, Local 667, Tony Hall, Local 690, Jackson Thomas, Local 808, Mallen Clifton, Local 1043, Anshu Patel, Amy Harbourne and John Hutchinson, Local 1105, Summer Pappachen, Local 1122, Circe Johnson, Corey Larson, and Michele McCoy, Local 1186, and George Waksmunski and Antwon Gibson, Eastern Region.
Standing Up for the Rights of Immigrant Workers
Speaking on the resolution, “Stand Up for the Rights of Immigrant Workers,” Caedmon Ragland Local 1498, noted that the majority of the workers Local 1498 represents are immigrants, and that “just this semester, which started six days ago … [at least] six workers in our bargaining unit have been interrogated by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].”
Margaret Dabrowski, Local 222, shared that she recently discovered that her parents had overstayed a visitor visa, and thus technically were “illegal” immigrants. “People say, well, you know, they came here legally,” she said. “No. But we all know the legality and illegality of immigration is extremely fluid, and it fluctuates and depends on who's in power.”
Jeff Kohler, Local 625, described how another member of his local, who came to the U.S. from Mexico as a child, was suspended because he was unable to provide their employer with papers. “He moved here when he was five years old,” said Kohler. “The United States is all he’s ever known. He's one of our brothers.” After a Local 625 leader spoke to a state representative, the local was able to get this member reinstated, but, Kohl said, “a lot of people do not have that outcome. And it's a shame.”
Andrew Eneim, Local 197, spoke about the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a member of the sheet metal workers’ union who had been sent to a Salvadoran prison, but then ordered to be released by the courts. However, Eneim reported, “yesterday morning, at a scheduled immigration check-in in the heart of Baltimore, he was kidnaped again by ICE. … Now the Trump administration is attempting to deport him to Uganda, a country that he knows nothing about and has zero ties to. What we are seeing now is a disgrace.”
Joseph Savage, Local 261, Jackson Thomas, Local 808, and Ramona Malczynski, Local 1466 also spoke on the resolution.
“We just want to live our lives”
During discussion on the resolution “End Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity,” several gay, transgender and nonbinary UE members spoke movingly about their struggles in the workplace and in society, and their appreciation for UE’s commitment to fighting for all members.
Gary Stuard, Local 203, spoke about his experience growing up as a gay man in Texas, struggling with depression and suicidal ideation. “I am very grateful that there is an organization like UE that takes a stand.”
“[Trans] people like myself just want to live our lives as our authentic selves, and that's becoming impossible,” said Sophie Nighswander, Local 696. “Republicans are going for the throat of my community. Democrats are standing by and watching, [but] I know that UE stands with us, and I am damn proud to be a part of a union that actually means it when they say it.”
Iris Powell, Local 667, rose to share that “I have been medically transitioning for five years. And while my gender presentation may grant me a bit more safety than my other trans femme sisters, I'm still really scared.”
“We don’t have to understand everything about each other to know that we’re all human beings in the same working class,” said Ramona Malczynski, Local 1466. “Trans people are not the reason we can't afford rent, health care and food. It's the billionaires who are price- gouging and using our labor to make their money while they do literally nothing.”
Nadia Zaragoza, Local 256, contrasted the MIT administration’s unwillingness to take action against attacks on queer students, citing the “free speech” rights of those making the attacks, with their crackdown on students supporting Palestinian rights: “They’re okay with blatant homophobia but not with opposing a genocide.” Zaragoza also decried MIT’s unwillingness to change their data systems to allow people to change their names or pronouns.
Toby Madrone, Local 255, said, “I just want to really urge everybody to not just think about the words here, but really take the spirit of this resolution to heart and remember that it's about actually taking action … [and] having the courage to speak up, to have people’s back, to let people know you have their back.”
Lauren Chua, Local 256, Sophie Brauer and Luc Wetherbee, Local 1105, and Max Pagano, Local 1466, also spoke on the resolution.
New Resolution on Disability Rights
A new resolution, “Disability Rights,” submitted by Local 1186, declared that “UE recognizes that disability rights are fundamental human rights, and that those who live with a disability of any kind deserve the same opportunities, compensation, and protections as all other workers. Discrimination against any person on the basis of disability is a violation of our inherent dignity and worth.” In the resolves, the resolution “Calls for the immediate and effective implementation of policies and programs designed to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities and promote their full and effective participation and inclusion in society on an equal basis with others.”
Speaking on the resolution, Jay Jay Rawson, Local 1466, pointed out that, “I am only temporarily able-bodied, and that’s true of all of us.”