Not just autoworkers: Grad students make up a growing share of UAW members

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union now includes approximately 100,000 members who work in higher education, including graduate students and adjunct professors, as part of a shift away from its traditional auto worker base.

The big picture: UAW’s membership has diversified as its autoworker numbers have dwindled.
* The union was 1.5 million members strong at its peak from the late 1960s to the 1970s. Today it has around 383,000 members and only about half work in the auto industry.
* The University of California system alone now has 48,000 UAW members, more than workers from Stellantis, formerly Chrysler.

Driving the news: The union has been recruiting academic workers to boost its numbers.
* Most recently, graduate students at the University of Maine voted to unionize with the UAW.
* Their counterparts at the University of Alaska are currently in their union vote process.
* Graduate student workers at UC went on strike last fall, winning 46% raises over two years.

What they’re saying: “We are counting on our siblings in the auto industry to come join us on the picket line,” said Andrea Joseph, a UAW member and postdoctoral fellow from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
* “We think it’s an exciting moment,” said Skye Kushner, a Ph.D. student in geoscience at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

What’s next: Despite the diversification, the UAW is still looking to grow its auto membership.
* “Workers at Tesla, Toyota, Honda, and others are not the enemy – they’re the UAW members of the future,” said UAW President Shawn Fain.

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