Dear UAW Sibling,

February has been another busy month for UAW members in Region 6. Check out this month’s newsletter for more on how members have spent the month building power by lobbying Congress in DC, building research funding campaigns in California and Washington, advancing organizing campaigns up and down the coast, mobilizing credible strike threats, and much more.

UAW Members Take Workers’ Issues to DC

This month, Region 6 members traveled to Washington D.C. for the National CAP Conference. Members lobbied members of our Congressional delegations from Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington on a number of priority areas for advancing the needs of working people. UAW members particularly emphasized that a true agenda for workers and the public good should focus our attention and spending priorities on things that benefit the public at large, not lining the billionaires’ pockets. Some of the issues we raised include:

Worker organizing: UAW members stressed the importance of workers organizing to form unions and demanded that politicians encourage employers to respect workplace democracy, including calling for support for ongoing organizing campaigns around Region 6.
Medicare for All: Healthcare must be a human right, not a privilege for the wealthy. Everyone should have the care they need to survive and thrive. No one should be forced into bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills or skip life-saving medications.
Research funding: Historically, the United States was the leader in scientific innovation and discoveries with a highly trained workforce. However, the recent attacks on science and research from the Trump administration are disrupting cancer and heart disease research, and setting back clean energy progress by decades. Working people need fully funded scientific research that advances our needs – not corporate profit.
Pro-worker green industrial policy: UAW Region 6 members are fighting for a worker-led just transition that centers the needs of working people. UAW members called on Congress to support strong industrial policies that empower working class communities to deliver good union jobs, affordable energy, and a liveable planet, not more payouts to Wall Street.
Abolishing ICE and funding affordable housing: The Trump Administration and Congress have dumped millions of dollars into propping up ICE – a corrupt, lawless private military that visits violence and terror on our communities at the President’s whim and direction. Congress must act immediately to stop this domestic terror, and instead, focus on humane immigration and visa policies and services that actually uplift working people, like affordable housing.

Save Science, Save Lives Campaign Builds Momentum!

In February, UAW members joined the California Democratic Convention to talk to delegates about the Save Science, Save Lives campaign. Members mobilized over a thousand delegates and collected hundreds of organizing pledge cards in support of SB-895. The bond measure, written and endorsed by Region 6 members, would establish funding for lifesaving research in California, ensuring critical research can continue to serve working people even after funding cuts by the federal government.

At the Convention, UAW Region 6 Director Mike Miller spoke to the California Democratic Labor Caucus to garner labor support for SB-895, emphasizing the importance of science funding to the jobs of countless UAW members whose work has been affected by the Trump administration’s savage attempts to gut research in the state and across the country.

Research Funding Campaign Kicks Off in Washington

Building on the momentum of the Save Science, Save Lives campaign in California, UAW members in Washington state are launching a similar campaign to establish state-level research funding in Washington. Members of Locals 4121, 4591, and 4929 kicked off the campaign this week in Olympia, testifying at the Senate Higher Education Committee meeting in support of Senate Bill 6321 (with companion bill HB 2739 in the house), which aims to secure six billion dollars of new funding for researchers based in Washington state. After the hearing, the bill’s prime sponsor, Senator Vandana Slatter, joined UAW members at a Science Fair, where members from across the spectrum of research shared their work and what is at stake should research funding disappear.

Illustrating the importance of this campaign, UAW 4121 member Jenna Morris testified: “Losing funding, even for a few months or a year, has immediate and long-lasting consequences for the forests, communities, and economy of Washington. Fire does not respect political boundaries or discriminate based on income or identity. It does not matter whether we live in urban or rural areas. Continued use of one-size-fits-all approaches to forest and fire management leave us all vulnerable to negative outcomes from increasing fire activity.”

New Organizing Updates

Workers across Region 6 continue building momentum towards significant milestones in their campaigns to form new unions and bargain strong first contracts. Check out some of the recent updates from the past month:

UC ComMas: Workers at University of California continue building a powerful labor movement at UC! 1,920 Communications, Marketing, and Sales Professionals (ComMas) at UC are voting to form a union. Their election runs from February 25 to March 10.

University of Alaska: Staff at University of Alaska are organizing to win their election and fighting a misinformation campaign by the University administration. Their election starts on March 18 and ends March 30.

Collective Bargaining Rights for Student Workers: In Washington, Operational Student Employees (OSEs) at Western Washington University (WAWU-Local 4929) have been organizing to pass a bill to codify collective bargaining rights. Thanks to workers’ sustained pressure, the bill has made it out of the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee, making it one step closer to passage. It is scheduled for another hearing on Friday. The bill, HB 1570, grants collective bargaining rights to OSEs at Western in line with the rights already available to Education Student Employees at major public universities in Washington.

California Environmental Justice Alliance: Staff at the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) won voluntary recognition of their union from CEJA leadership and affiliated with UAW 2103. They are dedicated to environmental justice and are excited to join other Environmental Justice campaigns with UAW. Onto bargaining a strong first contact!

Legal Services Workers: Multiple units of legal services workers (Local 2320) have recently won voluntary recognition of their union, including workers at Open Door Legal, California Center for Movement Legal Services, and If/When/How.

Legal Services Workers Building Powerful Contract Campaigns

NOLSW-UAW 2320 members of Disability Rights Oregon held practice pickets this month following a unanimous strike authorization vote. Members are fighting for their dignity, respect, and for a job that is sustainable. These workers are on the frontlines defending Oregonians with disabilities from systems of exclusion and injustice – the least they can expect is for their own employer to not recreate the same problematic structures they’ve dedicated their lives to fighting. But their employer is still disrespecting these workers and their clients by failing to show up with reasonable proposals and actively suppressing the speech of their staff all while lining their own pockets. Workers are demanding a livable wage, and will continue to hold practice pickets until they win a fair contract.

Even more bargaining is kicking off in legal services units across Region 6: Bay Area Legal Aid started bargaining (successor); Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Political Education (first contract); Oregon Law Center, Legal Aid Services of Oregon, and Immigration Counseling Services are all in bargaining now as well.

Lithium Valley Specific Plan

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors released its revised draft Lithium Valley Specific Plan (LVSP) and draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) in late December 2025. The LVSP is a land use plan being proposed by the County of Imperial that will guide industrial development on 51,622 acres near the Salton Sea nicknamed “Lithium Valley” for decades to come. These industries could bring economic opportunities to our communities if done right. Unfortunately, the draft LVSP and draft PEIR do not get it right. If approved as currently written, the draft LVSP and draft PEIR could result in development that is haphazard and unchecked, with substantial environmental impact and few guaranteed economic benefits to Imperial County residents.

The draft PEIR vastly underestimates water and energy use, underestimates environmental harm related to air quality, noise, endangered species, tribal cultural resources, and more, and underestimates risks to the health of workers and the community. Even more concerning, the draft PEIR argues that negative impacts in Imperial County are worth it for the goal of fast-tracking lithium extraction and industrial development, framing Imperial Valley as a sacrifice zone

Commenting on the draft PEIR may be your last real chance to speak out on industries that could impact your health, environment and everyday lives. The plan as written is a giveaway to data center companies that will not lead to UAW’s goal of a high road, California-based lithium value chain.

Submit a public comment for the Lithium Valley draft Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) by March 2, 2026.

Out of the Lab, Into the Streets

This February, PM Press released Out of the Lab, Into the Streets: An Oral History of the 2022 UAW Strike at the University of California. This book, composed of nine in-depth interviews with UAW members, tells the stories of how these academic workers went from being academics to union leaders who led the largest-ever strike in the history of higher education. Check the book out on the PM Press website and use coupon code AUTHOR for a 50% discount.

Message from Region 6 Director Mike Miller

Since taking office last year, Donald Trump and his administration have launched an unprecedented assault on collective bargaining, immigrants, healthcare, research, education, academic freedom, and free speech. His administration’s actions have directly threatened thousands of UAW members’ jobs while enriching his billionaire buddies. As Regional Director, I see this devastation firsthand. Region 6 is home to thousands of UAW members who work in higher education and critical research – many of whom have had their lives turned upside down by Trump. This administration has pursued federal funding cuts, arbitrary grant cancellations, and threats to revoke visas and work authorizations. They have tried to censor our work, play politics with our research, and attack our academic freedom.

It is not just our members’ jobs that are at stake; it’s so much more. The cures and treatments for life-threatening diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's that UAW members in Region 6 work on developing are relied on by all working people, many of whom depend on the clinical trials and innovations provided by our members’ research. So when Trump cuts funding for scientific research, he is attacking the entire working class. We have to remember that whether it is funding cuts in California and Washington State, or plant closures in the midwest, the story is the same: these are threats to our job security, to our basic ability to earn a decent wage, and to live a decent life. And the task in front of us is the same too: our only option as a union, and as a broader movement of working people, is to organize and fight back on a massive scale.

Since 2025 we have been organizing to take the Trump administration head on and to kill the cuts that are devastating scientific research, higher education, and our entire country. Thousands of UAW members have held rallies, days of action, science fairs, town halls with elected officials, and lobbying efforts with one simple message: Kill the cuts to scientific research and higher education!

We have also fought against Trump’s attacks on our immigrant members, whether it’s the brutality of masked ICE agents or surveilling and discriminating against our international members’ political speech. Immigrants and international workers are not the reason why working people cannot afford healthcare, rent, or child care. Billionaires and an economic system rigged for their gain are the reason. We must fight back against Trump’s politics of divide and conquer and advance the interests of the entire working class. Stop the attacks on our members, stop the attacks on our universities, stop the attacks on the working class!

The pressure Region 6 members have been building has made progress. We’ve successfully beat back the worst of Trump’s proposed cuts at the federal level. And we are getting creative at the state and local levels, too, to protect our work. In California and Washington State we are leading state ballot initiatives to fund scientific research to make up for the federal cuts. But it isn’t just about higher education and scientific research. Whether you’re researching how to build a better battery or building a car on the assembly line, we are part of the same industry and the same fight to win good union jobs. Because while our jobs are under attack across all sectors, we will continue to fight back against the attacks on them.

We cannot just play defense. We have to fight for the future of the industries we want to build. And we have to fight for our fair share of that future. Fighting back against this administration has built up our muscle from the picket line to the legislature. Now we have to choose how we want to use it – not just to play defense, but to fight like hell for the future all workers deserve.

More Updates from Around the Region

CAPS and the Sierra Nevada Red Fox: The Sierra Nevada red fox is one of the rarest and most threatened animals in the US, with fewer than 50 believed to remain in the Sierra. Thanks to the work of CAPS members in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, conservation efforts have achieved a significant milestone this month: GPS-collaring a fox and releasing it back into the area. According to CAPS-UAW 1115 member Julia Lawson, “Our goal is to use what we learn from this collared animal to work toward recovering the population in the long term.”
UC Strike Authorization Vote & Last Chance Picket: UAW Academic Student Employees (ASE), Research and Public Service Professionals (RPSP), and Student Services and Advising Professionals (SSAP) across every UC campus are taking action as bargaining continues. Over 93% in all three units voted YES to authorize an unfair labor practices strike should circumstances warrant. As UAW Local 4811 president Rafael Jaime said, “with these vote results, 40,000 UC workers have made clear that they are willing to walk off the job if necessary to stop UC’s bad-faith tactics.” Workers are now turning up the pressure even more, mobilizing towards a Last Chance Picket on March 12.
Trump Backs Down: The appeal to force a $1.2 billion settlement and impose sweeping political conditions on UCLA has been dropped by Trump’s Department of Justice. As a party to the lawsuit that secured this injunction, UAW 4811 members helped win a major victory for UC workers and public higher education. This is an important reminder that when workers organize, we win.
UAW Financial Officer’s Conference: Region 6 members attended the UAW Financial Officers’ Conference this month. Together with fellow workers from across the UAW, members learned information and skills for building Local practices that facilitate high levels of member participation and oversight over all levels of union work.

Upcoming Events

Region 6 Political Action Meeting, March 19, 6-7pm, via zoom. RSVP here.
UAW Member Mobilization Institute, April 19-24, Walter & May Reuther UAW Family Education Center, Onaway, MI. Contact your Local for more information.
Region 6 Political Action and Leadership Conference, April 25-26, Pico Rivera, CA. All members are encouraged to join. Contact your Local for more information.
UAW Health & Safety Conference, May 3-8, Walter & May Reuther UAW Family Education Center, Onaway, MI. Contact your Local for more information.
Convention of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, May 20-24, Atlanta, GA. Contact your Local for more information.
UAW Family Scholarship Program, July 12-17, Walter & May Reuther UAW Family Education Center, Onaway, MI. Contact your Local for more information.
Region 6 Summer School, July 23-26 at Cal State Los Angeles. Locals can expect to receive the call letter with more information in April.

February Newsletter: UAW in DC, Research Funding Campaigns, and more