18 Facts About UAW

UAW was founded in May 1935 in Detroit, Michigan under the auspices of the American Federation of Labor.

UAW rapidly found success in organizing with the sit-down strike, first in a General Motors Corporation plant in Atlanta, Georgia in 1936, and more famously in the Flint sit-down strike that began on December 29,1936.

UAW discovered that it had to be able to uphold its side of a bargain if it was to be a successful bargaining agency with a corporation, which meant that wildcat strikes and disruptive behavior by union members had to be stopped by the union itself.

UAW struck GM for 113 days, beginning in November 1945, demanding a greater voice in management.

The UAW went along with GM in return for an ever-increasing packages of wage and benefit hikes through collective bargaining, with no help from the government.

Related searches

The UAW negotiated employer-funded pensions at Chrysler, medical insurance at GM, and in 1955 supplementary unemployment benefits at Ford.

The UAW expanded its scope to include workers in other major industries such as the aerospace and agricultural-implement industries.

UAW leadership supported the programs of the New Deal Coalition, strongly supported civil rights, and strongly supported Lyndon Johnson's Great Society.

The UAW became strongly anti-communist after it expelled its Communist leaders in the late 1940s following the Taft–Hartley Act, and supported the Vietnam war and opposed the antiwar Democratic candidates.

The UAW leadership denounced these demands and efforts as antidemocratic and anti-American.

UAW was the most instrumental outside financial and operational supporter of the first Earth Day in 1970.

UAW workers receiving generous benefit packages when compared with those working at non-union Japanese auto assembly plants in the US, had been cited as a primary reason for the cost differential before the 2009 restructuring.

The UAW asserts that most of this labor cost disparity comes from legacy pension and healthcare benefits to retired members, of which the Japanese automakers have none.

In December 2008, the UAW agreed to suspend the program as a concession to help US automakers during the auto industry crisis.

UAW Leadership granted concessions to its unions in order to win labor peace, a benefit not calculated by the UAW's many critics.

UAW has tried to expand membership by organizing the employees outside of the Big Three.

However, the UAW organized a minority union Local 42, which was voluntary and does not collect dues.

The UAW remains a major player in the state Democratic Party.