Anti-Whipsaw Wage Floor and Strike Fund
UAWD Amendment for
the 2026 UAW Constitutional Convention
Anti-Whipsaw Wage Floor and Strike Fund
Amendments to Articles 16 and 19
Solidarity across borders is tantamount to building a militant union rooted in class-struggle. UAW has the means and resources to support Mexican labor struggles being carried out against the same employers of American workers with the creation of an Anti-Whipsaw Wage Floor and Strike Fund.
Amendment Summary
- Be it resolved that Article 19 shall be amended to include the following new section:
- UAW bargaining committees and councils shall strive to win company-wide wage floors applying to all workers regardless of classification or country. The Education and International Affairs Departments shall create educational materials for use by rank-and-file members in organizing for this effort.
- Be it further resolved that the Article 16 Section 11 shall be amended to include a new subsection:
- To fight cross-border whipsawing in the auto industry and other sectors, one-percent (1%) of income to the Strike and Defense Fund shall be allocated to the Anti-Whipsaw Mexican Solidarity Strike Fund. Upon adoption of this Article by the 39th Constitutional Convention, ten million dollars ($10 million) from the Strike and Defense Fund shall be transferred to establish the Anti-Whipsaw Mexican Solidarity Strike Fund. The International Executive Board is authorized to disburse funds from the Anti-Whipsaw Mexican Solidarity Strike Fund to support Mexican unions and workers, for strike pay and related expenses, in workplaces where employers use Mexican labor to whipsaw against UAW members.
Background
- Corporations in auto, heavy truck, agricultural implements, and other sectors whipsaw U.S. and Mexican workers against each other to hold down wages and weaken the power of the working class on both sides of the border.
- U.S. auto-workers earn an average of $35.30 per hour, while Mexican auto workers earn about $5.70 for the same labor. Our bosses use this wage gap to threaten production shifts, pressure U.S. workers to accept concessions, and reap massive profits.
- Mexican auto workers are increasingly organizing independent unions and launching powerful strikes for higher wages and democratic control of their shop floor. Many of these independent unions lack substantial strike funds because they are newly formed and their members earn far lower wages.
- The enormous cross-border wage differential allows relatively modest contributions from higher-paid U.S. workers to materially strengthen the fights lower-paid Mexican workers are engaged in.
A CLASS STRUGGLE APPROACH
- Workers alone have the power to reduce wage gaps and undermine employers’ whipsawing tactics by winning cross-border wage floors. Such concessions or flattening of wages across borders will never happen by a decision in a board room.
- Imperial capitalists depend on the depression of wages internationally to secure massive profit margins for internationally-produced commodities sold on the American market. Materially fighting against this division strengthens the power of the entire international working class.
OPPOSITION FROM MANAGEMENT AND UAW BUREAUCRATS
- The flow of goods across the U.S.-Mexico border is an enormous source of profit for American capitalists and bosses. Mexico is the #1 trade partner for the U.S., and our bosses will fight tooth and nail to ensure that wages are forced as low as possible on Mexican labor to maintain the profitability of this trade.
- Undoing this disparity will require material support for cross-border solidarity, and struggles waged on both sides of the border to support the broader fight against international corporations.
