Mark Meinster is stepping down at the end of his current term as UE’s Director of Organization, after almost three decades serving the union as a Field Organizer, International Representative, and national officer. He plans to continue helping to build UE and the broader labor movement after his term ends.
Mark joined the UE staff in 1997 and was assigned to the organizing campaign at the University of Vermont in what was then UE District 2 (now part of the UE Eastern Region). After a difficult 18-month fight, UE organized and brought 350 service and maintenance workers under a first UE contract. He then worked throughout New England organizing new locals, bargaining contracts and running strikes in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, learning how to bargain and organize from long-time UE staff and leaders steeped in the militant, democratic traditions of our union.
Later, Mark was transferred to UE’s District 11 (now part of the UE Western Region) where he led campaigns to organize thousands of immigrant manufacturing workers in the Midwest. Winning these fights required building deep, long-term relationships with community organizations in Chicago and Milwaukee.
After leading efforts to bring the first wave of government contractors into our union, working with organizing committees to form UE Local 208 in Vermont and Local 1008 in California, he returned to Chicago to help UE locals wage militant struggles against plant closings, including the historic and inspirational six-day plant occupation of Republic Windows and Doors by UE Local 1110 in 2008. During that fight, workers risked arrest to force the nation’s largest banks to compensate workers for their stolen wages and benefits.
In 2009 Mark co-founded Warehouse Workers for Justice, a worker center supporting organizing among thousands of Illinois logistics workers who power the global retail supply chain. WWJ led a successful 2012 strike at the Walmart Import Distribution Center, the first strike at a Walmart-owned facility in the U.S., which ended temp employment in Walmart’s warehouses. In 2014 Mark co-founded the Raise the Floor Alliance (RTF) to support Chicago-area worker centers. RTF went on to win Chicago’s Paid Time Off and Fair Scheduling Ordinances, as well as the Illinois Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and Responsible Job Creation Acts.
Mark’s work with WWJ also led to the organization of Renzenberger (now Hallcon) rail crew transportation drivers into UE. Starting with 160 Chicago-area drivers, UE organized 2,000 Hallcon workers across more than 150 railyards, winning the first national contract by UE since our early days.
In 2018 Mark was tapped by then Director of Organization Gene Elk to lead UE’s efforts to rebuild our organizing capacity, overseeing a new national organizing team. With support from the Canadian union Unifor, UE won campaigns across 15 states in three years, adding 2,500 new members to our ranks in key base industries including rail crew transportation, retail groceries, government contractors, manufacturing and the public sector.
At the start of the pandemic, while most other U.S. unions ceased their organizing efforts, Mark worked with allies from the Bernie Sanders campaign and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to create an innovative new organizing effort, the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC), which harnesses the power of thousands of volunteers to assist workers in organizing their workplaces.
Elected Director of Organization in 2021, Mark’s focus has been on securing UE’s future for the coming generation. As a national officer, he worked with graduate worker leaders, key staff and the other national officers to bring 30,000 graduate workers into UE and under contract by this year’s convention. He oversaw the rebuilding of the UE Legal Department and the expansion of the UE Communications and Information Department, the creation of the new online UE leadership development training series Building Union Power, the launching of a new staff management structure, and efforts to increase the diversity of the UE staff.
Throughout his career, Mark has been guided by a deep commitment to UE’s principles, and has applied these principles to today’s realities by generating new tactics to not only fight the boss, but to fight for a better world.
The delegates to this 79th UE Convention extend to him a heartfelt thanks for his long service to UE, and our best wishes for the future.