UAW Comes Out in Force for Law360 Union

Sep 12

Written By Ben Jay

(Courtesy of Vail Kohnert-Yount, Assistant Director of UAW Region 9A)

Day three of the Law360 union’s unfair labor practice strike went out not with a bang, but with a cacophony of car horns, when about 40 members and representatives of United Auto Workers Region 9 and Region 9A came out to the Manhattan picket line.

“We always express our solidarity with NewsGuild and Law360 workers every time there’s a walkout, and now you’ve been forced out here to get your demands,” said Brandon Mancilla, director of UAW Region 9A, which covers the eastern part of New York state, New England and Puerto Rico.

The UAW contingent, which includes automotive, aerospace, legal services, academic, cultural, credit union and Bacardi rum factory workers, is in town for Region 9A’s Political Leadership Conference, from Sept. 12 through Sept. 13, and came out with the energy of a speeding F-150.

Daniel Vicente, director of UAW Region 9, which covers western and central New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, said, “We’ve gotta show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in all sectors, all industries.”

“The fight for working class people isn’t just one union or another union,” Vicente said. “This is all working people, so if you all are out, we should support in whatever capacity we can.”

Public defenders from UAW Local 2325, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, also came out after passing a resolution Tuesday night supporting the Law360 Union’s ULP strike, and pledging $3,000 to the strike fund.

Sophia Gurulé of Local 2325’s Bronx Defenders Union chapter said Law360 “is a source of what’s even happening in the legal community, particularly in New York.”

“So not being able to have it means not being able to get up-to-date information about what’s going on,” Gurulé said.

Claire Valdez, a Columbia University employee and an organizer with UAW Local 2110, which represents cultural, university, and legal workers, said, “We want to come and show some support for the workers of Law360, and make sure they know that UAW has their back.”

Valdez, the Democratic nominee in New York State Assembly District 37 in Queens, was joined by Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic assemblymember from District 36.

Check out the photos below!