Cindy Estrada | |
---|---|
Education | BA in Education |
Alma mater | University of Michigan |
Occupation | Trade union leader |
Known for | Vice president of UAW |
Spouse | Frank White |
Children | 2 |
Cindy Estrada is an American trade union leader, the former vice president of the United Auto Workers union, and an activist for women's rights and worker's rights. She served as UAW vice president from 2010 through her retirement in 2022, and was the first Latina to fill the role.
Estrada graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in education from the University of Michigan and originally had planned on becoming a teacher. After graduating from college, she had the opportunity to work on a campaign alongside farmworkers and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, organizing with the United Farm Workers union. She cites these experiences in drawing her towards becoming a labor organizer. [1] [2]
Estrada began working for the UAW in 1995. Soon after joining, she helped to organize workers at Mexican Industries, resulting in "one of the UAW's largest victories among Spanish-speaking manufacturing workers". [3] Estrada was elected to her first term as UAW vice president in 2010. In this role, Estrada was the lead negotiator responsible for over 17,000 UAW members within Michigan. [1]
In 2014, Estrada took over as head of UAW's General Motors Department, becoming the first woman and first Latina to fill the role. [4] She was also elected to her second term as UAW vice president. [5]
IN 2017, Estrada was considered "of interest" in a federal investigation regarding misappropriated funds for a training center jointly operated by UAW and Fiat Chrysler. Estrada was never charged or named in any court filings, but corruption charges were brought against her immediate predecessor, Joe Ashton, who was eventually convicted. [6]
In 2018, Estrada took over leadership of the Stellantis department (formerly the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles department). [7]
Estrada announced her retirement as UAW vice president in 2022. [8]
Estrada is both an advocate for women's rights and worker's rights. On the topic of women's rights, Estrada has stated how she "strongly believes that women need to take a seat at the table in order to be heard". [9] For worker's rights, Estrada has cited studies that show how unionization has yielded higher wages and benefits for Latinos. Calling it an "economic issue", Estrada has said: "We need to get to a place where it becomes unacceptable for company executives to be making $20 million a year while they pay their workers $10 an hour." [2]
In 2021, Estrada was awarded the Jewish Labor Committee's 2021 Human Rights Award. UAW president Ray Curry said that: “Cindy works every day with a goal of preserving the dignity of all human rights in our workplace and our society". [10]
Estrada is the mother of twin boys. [9]
Walter Philip Reuther was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. He saw labor movements not as narrow special interest groups but as instruments to advance social justice and human rights in democratic societies. He leveraged the UAW's resources and influence to advocate for workers' rights, civil rights, women's rights, universal health care, public education, affordable housing, environmental stewardship and nuclear nonproliferation around the world. He believed in Swedish-style social democracy and societal change through nonviolent civil disobedience. He cofounded the AFL-CIO in 1955 with George Meany. He survived two attempted assassinations, including one at home where he was struck by a 12-gauge shotgun blast fired through his kitchen window. He was the fourth and longest serving president of the UAW, serving from 1946 until his death in 1970.
The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States and southern Ontario, Canada. It was founded as part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s and grew rapidly from 1936 to the 1950s. The union played a major role in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party under the leadership of Walter Reuther. It was known for gaining high wages and pensions for automotive manufacturing workers, but it was unable to unionize auto plants built by foreign-based car makers in the South after the 1970s, and it went into a steady decline in membership; reasons for this included increased automation, decreased use of labor, mismanagement, movements of manufacturing, and increased globalization.
The Communist Party (CP) and its allies played a role in the United States labor movement, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, but largely wasn't successful either in bringing the labor movement around to its agenda or in converting their influence in any particular union into membership gains for the Party. The CP has had only negligible influence in labor since its supporters' defeat in internal union political battles in the aftermath of World War II and the Congress of Industrial Organizations's (CIO) expulsion of unions in which the party held the most influence in 1950. The expelled parties were often raided by stronger unions, and most withered away.
Douglas Andrew Fraser was a Scottish–American union leader. He was president of the United Auto Workers from 1977 to 1983 and an adjunct professor of labor relations at Wayne State University for many years.
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Roland Jay Thomas, also known as R. J. Thomas, was a left-wing leader of the United Auto Workers in the 1930s and 1940s. He grew up in eastern Ohio and attended the College of Wooster for two years. The need to help support his family caused him to leave college and go to work. In 1923, he moved to Detroit, where he worked in a number of automobile plants.
Owen Frederick Bieber was an American labor union activist. He was president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) from 1983 to 1995.
Nelson "Jack" Edwards (1917–1974) was Vice President of the UAW, and a founder of CBTU, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
Leon E. Bates Sr. was an American labor union leader with the United Auto Workers union (UAW) from 1937 to 1964 when he retired as an "International Representative" of the UAW. He was one of the first African-American union organizers to work for the "UAW-CIO".
The Alliance for Labor Action (ALA) was an American and Canadian national trade union center which existed from July 1968 until January 1972. Its two main members were the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, although it had some smaller affiliates.
Olga M. Madar was the first woman to serve on the United Auto Workers (UAW) International Executive Board.
The tool and die strike of 1939, also known as the "strategy strike", was an ultimately successful attempt by the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) to be recognized as the sole representative for General Motors workers. In addition to representation rights, the UAW, working jointly with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), sought to resolve existing grievances of skilled workers.
The Chrysler Auto Strike began in October 1939 at the Dodge Main Plant in Detroit, Michigan, as a struggle between the Chrysler Auto manufacturer and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW).
Stellantis N.V. is a multinational automotive manufacturing corporation formed from the merger of the Italian–American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam. As of 2022, Stellantis was the world's fourth-largest automaker by sales, behind Toyota, Volkswagen Group, and Hyundai Motor Group.
Nat Ganley, or Nat Kaplan, was a socialist and later communist journalist who became a union organizer in the 1930s, particularly for the United Auto Workers of America. He was tried and convicted in 1954 for violating the Smith Act, but his conviction was later overturned.
Lillian Hatcher (1915–1998) was an African American riveter and union organizer. She was employed at the Briggs aircraft plant in Detroit when she first became active in union organizing after the company transferred a group of female employees, white and black, all of whom had children, to the midnight shift.
Shawn Fain is an American labor unionist who has served as president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) since March 2023. An electrician by trade, he worked at a Stellantis automotive parts plant in Kokomo, Indiana. He has been a UAW member for 29 years, and is a member of the reform caucus, Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD). Fain was the first UAW president directly elected by the union's members, and was a central figure in the 2023 United Auto Workers strike.
General Holiefield was an American labor union leader.
Mary Elizabeth Bunn is a former American labor unionist.
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