The dangers of COVID-19 mean that UAW Local 2320 member Daniela Juarez, who works with the Migrant Farmworker Project in Wisconsin, doesn’t meet with her clients in person. She spends a lot of time talking with them on the phone.
In person or not, her assistance is vital as many of her Spanish-speaking clients are challenged by lack of access to public areas where they depend on technology to help them get information, file forms or apply for unemployment insurance benefits, says Juarez, who assists migrant and seasonal farmworkers throughout Wisconsin.
Sisters and Brothers,
I want to address some of the comments and questions I’ve been hearing over the past few days concerning testing for the COVID-19 virus. Last week, UAW International staff members in Michigan received COVID-19 testing.
UAW Local 2320 National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW) represents more than 4,500 members across the country. They are UAW’s only national amalgamated local union. Its members provide free legal services to low income residents needing assistance with housing, domestic violence, safety net services, health care and more...
Walter P. Reuther is an icon and an American hero of the working class. For those of us at the UAW, there are almost no words powerful enough to describe what he means to this union and our members. And for me, as the current president of the UAW, I am so humbled and inspired by his vision, his life’s work, his tireless fight for human and civil rights and simply put, the example he set as an extraordinary human being...
We all knew this day would come at some point.
While the companies have the sole contractual right to determine the opening of plants, our UAW focus and role is and will continue to be, on health and safety protocols in which we have the contractual right to protect our members.
“As we stated yesterday in regard to FCA, the UAW has and continues to have dialogue with all of our employers and employment sectors about the safety and security surrounding reopening worksites.
In the case of the Big 3, through the Task Force we have had an ongoing dialogue and we have supported a number of measures put in place to address Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines from GM, FCA and Ford to protect our health and safety in the plant. Our volunteer members and the companies have done great work to reconfigure plants to achieve this safety goal.
We continue to advocate for as much testing as possible at the current time and eventually full testing when available.
As for the start date, the companies contractually make that decision and we all knew this day would come at some point. Our UAW focus and role is and will continue to be, on health and safety protocols to protect our members.
My own family will be among those that will be reporting and my responsibility to our UAW members and my family will be consistent. We must implement and follow these guidelines and self-reporting procedures we have worked out. And the UAW will fulfill its role to continue to actively monitor and aggressively respond regarding all issues impacting the health and safety of UAW members in whatever manner may be necessary as we return to the worksite.”
