Delegates to the Eastern Region council’s spring meeting, which met on March 21, were welcomed to Philadelphia by Mark Hinkel, past president of UE Local 155. Local 155, one of the union’s oldest locals, was chartered in June of 1937 to organize tool and die workers in the City of Brotherly Love. Like its parent union, the amalgamated local’s membership has diversified in recent decades, with manufacturing workers at Portescap, Tinius Olsen and Stepan joined by railcrew drivers at two Hallcon yards and librarians in Passaic, New Jersey.
Mark Hinkel (left) and Erik Mackowski (right) of Local 155 with their local’s charter from 1937. (“Machine Workers” was not added to the union’s name until later in 1937.)
Similarly, the twenty-some-odd locals in attendance represented workers across numerous industries, from manufacturing, the public sector, and higher education to federal contract workers, grocery co-op workers, and reproductive health workers. Across all of these sectors, however, similar stories were told in the shop reports: of UE locals mobilizing their members on the shop floor and in the community to fight back against attacks from bosses and politicians.
Local 506 President Ryan Mudger.
Ryan Mudger, the recently-elected president of Local 506 in Erie, PA, reported that when Wabtec refused to accept a consolidated grievance from the local at a higher step of the grievance procedure about new surveillance cameras on a production floor, members got the company’s attention by filing over 100 individual grievances. In another case, although the union lost an arbitration about including locations in job postings, the company decided to include them anyway after managers began receiving phone calls from workers on all three shifts asking about the location of a recently-posted job.
Local 255 President Toby Madrone, flanked by the seven other Local 255 members attending the council meeting, told delegates how workers at Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, VT are conducting a campaign to convince management to hire a worker unfairly denied a promotion. Members have circulated a petition, packed staff meetings wearing buttons, and marched on the boss during the step two grievance meeting, holding signs outside the meeting.
Local 255 President Toby Madrone (center, at mic) with others delegates and guests from Local 255. Eastern Region President George Waksmunski listens at lower left.
Charles Owens of Local 150, UE’s statewide public-sector local in North Carolina, described how the local has been organizing housekeepers and dining staff at North Carolina State University to fight an unfair scheduling system and demand a $25 minimum wage. Department of Health and Human Services workers have been battling state efforts to cut their healthcare with a “Worker Health, not Corporate Wealth” campaign, and recently held a press conference outside of DHHS headquarters. The local was also part of a successful campaign to convince the state to divest from Israeli bonds, because, as Owens put it, “along with dismal returns on investment, these funds were assisting and supporting Israel’s immoral and genocidal assault on Palestine.”
The Local 150 delegation. Left to right: Darrion Smith, Bonita Johnson, Charles Owens, Patryce Perry, Rory Pegram.
Rory Pegram of the local’s Charlotte City Workers Union chapter added that municipal workers in Charlotte are “putting boots on the ground,” reaching out to the community ahead of the city’s annual budget process to win a $25 per hour minimum in this year’s budget. Charlotte city workers have successfully increased the city’s minimum wage from $18.32 to $24 over the past several years. “We’re proud to say that we are leading the way,” said Pegram.
Katrina Davis, Local 300.
Local 300 delegate Katrina Davis told the council meeting how Cornell University, which employs the over 3,000 graduate-worker members of Local 300, had made a deal with the Trump administration, which she referred to as a “shakedown” allowing the administration to “inject its divisive agenda into our workplace.” In response, Local 300 invited Sophie Nighswander, the president of Local 696 at Planned Parenthood in Pittsburgh, to be part of a panel discussion in Ithaca about protecting trans rights. (Local 696 had recently been successful in pressuring their employer not to surrender to demands from the Trump administration to cease providing gender-affirming care.)
Local 300 held the panel, Davis said, because “we wanted to show how the union is the antidote” to divisive rhetoric and policies targeting trans individuals.
Local 613 President Alison Oniboni.
Local 613 President Alison Oniboni described how her local, which represents teachers, nurses, speech pathologists and other professionals at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children in Pittsburgh, recently won voluntary recognition for 25 or so physical therapists and occupational therapists. Organizing additional workers is “strengthening our local as a collective group of professional employees at that school,” she said.
Council Delegates Call for Solidarity With Cuban People, Oppose Illegal War on Iran
In his report, Eastern Region President George Waksmunski proclaimed that “Day after day we see the world get punched in this face by this administration.” He listed the war on Iran, the ongoing starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, the occupation of U.S. cities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the tightening blockade of Cuba. “What did the people of Cuba ever do to us?” he asked. “And now we’re just starving these people for no reason.”
Eastern Region President George Waksmunski.
However, he said, “The thing that gives us hope is if we see workers fighting back,” and connecting these larger issues to the day-to-day struggles facing working people. Two resolutions, submitted by UE locals and adopted unanimously by council delegates, did just that.
“International Solidarity with the Cuban People in the Face of Heightened U.S. Blockade” was submitted jointly by Locals 150 and 256. It notes that, in line with policies adopted by the 79th UE National Convention, “Last year, five members of UE Local 150 took part in the International May Day Brigade to Cuba, delivering supplies and standing in solidarity with the Cuban people on May Day.” The resolution commits the region to signing on to the “Let Cuba Live” petition, calls on locals to also sign on, and allocates $500 to purchase supplies for Local 150 members to bring to the 2026 International May Day Brigade.
“Stop the Illegal War on Iran,” submitted by Local 256, declares that “Billions of our tax dollars have been wasted on bombs and destruction while most Americans cannot afford food, housing, and healthcare without fear of slipping into poverty. History shows us that working class people, not the children of billionaires, will be the ones sent to fight a rich man’s war that only benefits the billionaires and weapons manufacturers.
Local 256 President Lauren Chua introduced the resolutions.
“Our tax dollars should be spent to address the cost of living crisis in the United States, not create death and destruction abroad. We must continue to stand up for the interests of workers, not billionaires, and oppose another endless war.” The resolution calls on UE locals and members to join anti-war protests in their communities, join anti-war coalitions with other unions and organizations, and contact their elected officials to demand an end to the war.
Council delegates also approved executive board recommendations to donate $1,000 to efforts to restore the “Solidarity” mural from the UE hall in Chicago and $500 each to the Deb Gornall and Saladin Muhammad scholarship funds, the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, the Southern Workers Assembly, and Black Workers for Justice.
“Our union is in good shape”
In her national officer report, her first to a regional council meeting since her election last August, Director of Organization Kimberly Lawson told delegates, “Our union is in good shape,” with plenty of resources and plenty of fighting spirit. She reviewed both recent contract fights from around the union and looming struggles, including upcoming negotiations covering tens of thousands of UE members who are graduate workers at private universities.
Director of Organization Kimberly Lawson.
Several of those universities, she said, have made clear their intent to challenge the NLRB Columbia decision granting graduate workers collective bargaining rights. “They are trying to take away the collective bargaining rights of 30,000 of our members,” said Lawson. “If and when that happens, we need to be prepared to shut these universities down.”
She reported about the organizing victory at Local 613 (see above), as well as current UE organizing campaigns among railcrew drivers, manufacturing workers, and public-sector workers. Lawson then introduced representatives from two current UE organizing drives in higher education.
Guests from RALLE-UE: Sahil Tandale (center, speaking) with Sam Irwin (left) and Holly Hammond (right).
Sahil Tandale and Sam Irwin of Research and Lab Labor Empowered (RALLE), a UE organizing campaign among research and laboratory staff at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, described how Johns Hopkins pays its research staff far less than they could make elsewhere. “They are perfectly capable of giving us a living wage,” said Tandale; Irwin added, “They have literally billions of dollars to do so.” They are also demanding that their university do more to protect international workers, many of whom, as Tandale pointed out, have been in this country “doing lifesaving research for decades.”
Daniel Sinclair of Professional Academic Workers United.
Daniel Sinclair and Catherine King from Professional Academic Workers United, a UE organizing campaign at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, described how they and their co-workers also work for low wages, with 80 percent of their co-workers working on foreign visas and therefore in “extremely precarious situations.” Sinclair described their efforts to convince their co-workers that “worker power is able to change what is happening,” and King reported that “We’ve been making real progress” in that regard.
Lawson encouraged locals to get involved in the union’s new member-run education committee, emphasizing that it is important for UE members to do everything they can to strengthen their union because “We are facing one of the most challenging economic and political situations we have seen in recent times.” She decried the human and economic costs of the war on Iran, reviewed worrying economic trends including an AI bubble, and warned that the “Save America Act,” currently President Trump’s highest legislative priority, would prevent millions of Americans from voting while also attacking trans rights. In more positive news, she said that the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York demonstrates that “A program that addresses working people’s economic needs is what can bring this country together.”
The Director of Organization ended her remarks by encouraging UE members to join the upcoming “No Kings” protests on March 28 and get their locals involved in organizing for May Day.
Elections
UE Secretary-Treasurer Andrew Dinkelaker also addressed the council meeting on behalf of a General Executive Board task force which is looking at making structural changes to how UE elects national officers. Following his presentation, he took questions and feedback from the delegates.
In contested regional elections, delegates chose Janet Gray, Local 618, as the region’s new president, and re-elected Sophie Nighswander, Local 696, as vice president. John Miles, Local 506, was elected secretary-treasurer and Nadia Zaragosa, Local 256 was elected recording secretary.
David Bedore, Local 123, Patryce Perry, Local 150, Erik Mackowski, Local 155, Frances Wohlscheid, Local 197, Margaret Dabrowski, Local 222, Jane Shepard O’Connor, Local 228, Dean Pacileo, Local 243, Toby Madrone, Local 255, Lauren Chua, Local 256, Noah Schaffer, Local 261, John Pruss, Local 267, Ewa Nizalowska, Local 300, Mark Benjamin, Local 329, Ryan Mudger, Local 506, Alison Oniboni, Local 613, Karleen Torrance, Local 618, Jeff Kohler, Local 625, Brian Desanto, Local 642, Fritz Geist, Local 667, Joey Moreno, Local 684, Tony Hall, Local 690, and Nina Mulroy, Local 696 were elected to serve on the region’s executive board. Chua, Hall, Kohler, Madrone, and Pacileo were elected as the region’s five at-large representatives on the General Executive Board. (The president, vice president and secretary-treasurer also serve on the GEB.) Dominic Harris, Local 150, and David Bass, Local 197, were elected as trustees, and Kevin Schroeck, Local 506, was elected alternate trustee.
Officers, executive board members and trustees being sworn in.