Preamble Committing to Class Struggle Unionism and the Fight Against Management
UAWD Amendment for
the 2026 UAW Constitutional Convention
Preamble Committing to Class Struggle Unionism and the Fight Against Management
Amendment to the Constitution’s Preamble
This amendment updates the Constitution’s preamble to reflect the militant class-struggle values on which the UAW was founded.
Amendment Summary
Be it resolved that the UAW Constitution Preamble shall be amended to affirm:
- that society’s wealth is created by the working class and appropriated by an owning class;
- that workers’ gains are won through collective struggle against those who profit from our labor;
- that the union must be democratically directed by the rank and file; and
- that the UAW exists to organize workers to win material gains while building toward working-class control of production and society.
Background
- The current UAW preamble reflects a labor-management partnership framework that suggests employers and stockholders share common interests with workers.
- This framing does not match workers’ daily reality. Across industries, employers intensify speedup, impose understaffing, expand surveillance, suppress wages, and erode working conditions in pursuit of profit. At the same time, corporate wealth shapes political life, placing key decisions about production, employment, housing, and public policy beyond democratic control.
- Historically, workers have secured higher wages, safer conditions, and dignity on the job through organizing, solidarity, and confrontation—not through appeals to employer goodwill.
- Revising the preamble restores this historical truth and aligns the constitution with the militant traditions on which the UAW was built.
A CLASS STRUGGLE APPROACH
- This amendment affirms that workers and employers have fundamentally opposed interests and that the working class must rely on its own organized strength. It centers industrial unionism, collective action, and solidarity across race, nationality, borders, gender, sexuality, and occupation as essential tools for confronting employer power.
- The amendment also emphasizes rank-and-file democracy as a core principle. Transparency, open communication, and direct member participation ensure that power remains rooted on the shop floor and that the union functions as an instrument of working-class struggle rather than an intermediary managing exploitation.
- Beyond immediate workplace gains, the revised preamble commits the UAW to the long-term goal of ending the domination of capital over labor and building a society in which working people collectively control the wealth they create and the institutions that govern their lives.
OPPOSITION FROM MANAGEMENT AND UAW BUREAUCRATS
- Many within the UAW leadership will resist a class-struggle framework, preferring partnership models that prioritize cooperation with employers and political access over shop-floor power.
- Others may say they support these principles, but argue we should keep them secret to avoid controversy. This approach is self-defeating: a union cannot organize around principles it refuses to state openly.
- The UAW’s greatest victories were achieved through clear demands, militant collective action, and a shared understanding among members of the stakes of their struggle. Reaffirming a class-struggle orientation, and doing so publicly, strengthens the union’s ability to defend members, expand democratic participation, and build the power necessary to confront exploitation.
