Our Mission
“There is no greater cause or purpose we have than supporting our members, ensuring that we are there for them, that we are standing side by side with them, arm in arm, through any struggle or any situation that arises. Our members need to know that whether it’s their dignity, their respect, their safety, their training, whatever is lacking, that we will be there for them.”
-Travis Beck, President, Local 102
All Sources: Safe and Reliable Electricity
“Our commitment to support clean energy initiatives and technologies should be at the top priority for our union, but we should never lose sight that a true, reliable grid must contain a mix of current generation with renewables.”
-Frank Dominguez, Business Agent, Local 1-2
Support for Nuclear Energy and Workers
“Using nuclear energy reduces the carbon footprint while maintaining the huge number of megawatts the grid requires for stability…The federal government sees it, and states are starting to come around to know what we have known for decades. Nuclear power is a vital part of our future generation and support for the grid.”
-Chris Ericksen, President, Local 270
Our Future: Young Workers Initiative Committee
“I applaud you for this young worker program and the investment that you’re making and going back to your communities and recruiting even more young people in your midst, because they are there. They are just waiting to be brought in and waiting to be heard.”
-Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO
UWUA National Health and Welfare Trust
“Offer your people what they need, and when the company says no, we still can say yes. Do you know how much power that gives your local when you can offer your brothers and sisters retiree medical and better health coverage than the company can? I can tell you that’s the single most important reason that we have only one right-to-work worker in our local out of 837 workers.”
-Deb Syck, Treasurer, Local 69
Essential by Industry, Exceptional by Choice: Embracing Our Differences, Leveraging Our Strength, Determining Our Future Together
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the world shut down and we did not. When people went inside, we continued to go outside so that the communities could have some form of normalcy… We put ourselves and our families at risk so that hospitals, fire departments, police departments, schools, grocery stores could continue to operate. We adjusted to safety measures, new technologies, to communications…So what I ask of you is that when you go back home, that you educate local, state, federal elected leaders that we are first responders, essential workers, and that we get recognized. We have earned it. We are Essential by Industry and Exceptional by Choice.”
-Juanita Ray, President Local 223
Safe and Reliable Natural Gas
“The current grid is not capable of handling mass electrification or a quick and ill-planned abandoning of natural gas as a safe and reliable source of heat, cooking, and generation for power. Any clean energy future will need to rely upon natural gas to reach some of the lofty goals major corporations have set for becoming carbon net zero….We must continue to fight for natural gas to have its place in the future of energy in the United States. We must also remain forward-thinking enough to embrace the future of our industry.”
-Paul Talboo, Executive Vice President, Local G-555
UWUA Political Action
“I want to commend the people of Michigan here. They got right-to-work gone because they elected a governor that would do that. They got a tax break for the middle class for working people because they got a governor that would do that. They got their boots on the ground; they did what they were supposed to do. That’s what we need to do. We need to look at their example on how this is supposed to be done.”
-Steve Kowolonek, President, Local 600