The UWUA and its local unions are increasingly treating artificial intelligence (AI) as a practical tool for representation — not a futuristic add-on. Across grievance handling, arbitration preparation, and contract administration, the goal is straightforward: get stewards and staff to the right facts faster, reduce administrative busywork, and improve consistency in how cases are tracked and resolved.
Three areas stand out where AI can make a measurable difference: grievance and arbitration tracking, a national contract database, and local contract chatbot support for members and stewards.
AI-enabled grievance and arbitration tracking
Many locals track grievances through spreadsheets, shared drives, or case-management tools, but information is often fragmented. Notes sit in emails, timelines live on calendars, and outcomes end up buried in settlement PDFs. That fragmentation slows research and weakens pattern recognition.
UWUA’s largest local, nearly 8,000-member Local 1-2, faced exactly this challenge given its size, workload, and decades of document history. When Secretary-Treasurer Steve D’Auria took office, he brought field experience from steward through business agent and understood firsthand how much time representatives spend hunting for information. He pushed for a system that would streamline case work and improve member service.
Using AI, years of grievance files were converted into structured case records. The system extracts key fields — dates, contract articles cited, remedies requested, worksites, supervisors, and settlement terms — and auto-populates standardized records. That reduces re-typing, improves reporting consistency, and keeps data usable.
Just as important, AI-assisted analysis can identify patterns across cases: discipline spikes tied to specific supervisors, repeat safety violations in a department, chronic overtime bypass, or recurring misapplication of a contract article. That kind of visibility helps locals target training, shape bargaining priorities, and intervene earlier to prevent repeat disputes.
A National contract database
The National UWUA has also begun overlaying AI tools onto its contract database. Because UWUA represents members across many employers and regions, contract language varies widely even when topics are similar. AI makes the database more than a filing cabinet.
Instead of searching by filename, users will be able to search by concept — just cause, drug and alcohol testing, scheduling, progression, contracting out, safety committees — and receive relevant excerpts with contract and article citations. That speeds up research and improves accuracy.
The database will also strengthen bargaining preparation. Locals will be able to compare wage structures, severance formulas, and emerging language around issues like remote work, cybersecurity discipline, and new technology implementation. Done right, this becomes institutional memory that survives leadership transitions and reduces the need to reinvent solutions at each bargaining table.
Local contract chatbots for stewards and members
A third application is the local contract chatbot — a guided search assistant trained only on a local’s CBA, MOAs, settlements, and policies. For members, it can answer routine questions about vacation selection, holiday pay, or grievance steps, while directing complex or fact-specific matters to a steward.
At the UWUA 2025 Leadership Conference, a conversation between Local 1-2’s Steve D’Auria and Local 18007 Business Manager Sean Gaurige led to Local 18007 moving forward with its own contract chatbot initiative. The goal is simple: make contract navigation easier for members while reinforcing steward involvement.
These systems are designed as contract navigation tools — not legal advice engines. Good design requires citations, clause references, and clear disclaimers when the system is uncertain, along with direction to contact union representatives. Adoption improves when tools are placed where members already look — places like secure local websites, member portals, or bulletin-board QR codes — with authentication when documents are restricted.
Moving forward
As UWUA and its locals adopt AI tools, the focus remains on practicality, trust, and member service. These systems are not replacements for stewards, business agents, or officers. They are force multipliers.
By reducing administrative friction — document searches, timeline reconstruction, repetitive contract questions — AI gives union leaders more time for the work that matters most: investigating cases, enforcing agreements, solving problems, and engaging members. Used correctly, these tools strengthen representation and help deliver faster, more informed support on the shop floor.