For press inquiries, please reach out to Communications Director Erin Bzymek at ebzymek@uwua.net or 202-702-9655.
Brothers and Sisters, the importance and urgency outlined in the previous Young Workers Initiative Committee (YWIC) article regarding the need to vote, and to vote our interests has been greatly illuminated by recent current events. The stakes for the 2022 mid-term elections could not be higher. The outcome will no doubt go a long way…
When electric power goes out, troubleshooters are the first at the scene to determine what caused the outage. They’re the individuals who work with overhead linemen and splicers to handle storm damage. If a cable blows up, it’s the troubleshooter who isolates, deenergizes, and makes temporary repairs until an inspector can make permanent repairs. Local…
Members of Ohio Local 270 ratified their first UWUA contract with the City of Berea’s water department in June. The unit of 10 water workers organized in early 2021 but faced a long road to their first contract. “This was a tough one because both parties came to the table presenting a full contract,” Local…
The theme of the Utility Workers Union of America’s 31st and most recent constitutional convention in 2019 was “Our Mission: Protecting Our Legacy, Building Our Future!” and with the rapid changes occurring in the utility industry there is no better mission. Our industry is changing quickly. Although some of these changes are resulting in the…
Today we see thousands of workers taking back their power, grabbing headlines and securing big wins against the country’s most powerful, anti-union employers. Starbucks baristas, Amazon workers and young workers who have never been involved in an organizing campaign are taking on the Goliaths of the world and delivering radical change in their work lives.…
In May and June members of Local 601 put together three fundraisers to benefit the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Relay For Life, a national program that has been adopted by towns across the country. Local communities join with ACS fundraising teams, named for people whose lives have been impacted by cancer, and find creative ways…
Matthew Michael Rourke, a member of Local 369 and employee of National Grid in Massachusetts, died at age 35 on May 26 following a tragic workplace accident. Rourke worked as a first-class underground cable splicer and was alone in an electrical box when he was electrocuted. Fire and EMS staff attempted life-saving measures before taking…
As union members, we have far better pay, health and pension benefits, safety protections, grievance processes, and job protections than our non-union counterparts. We didn’t get these things by simply asking. We got them because we have the power — or leverage — to get what we want. Anyone who has sat through a contract…
There is truly power in numbers, especially when it comes to unions. Workers win bigger gains at the bargaining table and in the political arena when we have higher density. Density means representing a greater share of the workforce — whether within individual companies, sectors, geographic regions, or nationally. A local representing all union-eligible workers…
Clean hydrogen is a pillar of the U.S. strategy for reducing carbon emissions, and the UWUA is focused on ensuring that this growth includes high-quality jobs for members. Federal and several state governments as well as private industry are betting heavily on clean hydrogen production and deployment across a variety of hard-to-decarbonize sectors of the…