Public Money for the Public Good
The Trump administration is aggressively pursuing an anti-worker agenda that puts working people’s healthcare, research, education, and jobs at risk. While they claim to be invested in saving public money and reducing waste, their actions make clear that their primary interest is expanding the wealth and power of those who already have the most – billionaires and corporations – at the expense of working people.
UAW members are standing up to demand that our public money be used for the public good – including funding lifesaving public research and our jobs; supporting working people’s access to affordable and quality housing, healthcare, and education; ensuring the highest standard of continuous support for Veterans; and more.
And UAW members are standing up to show that we are united across identity, nationality, and industry to win a world that works for workers. Working people of all identities and sectors are the ones who make the economy run – not billionaires – and we will not be divided against each other.
Take action to defend public research!
The Trump Administration’s actions to cut billions in public research funding threatens life-saving medical treatment and puts hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. UAW members are organizing to oppose these reckless attempts to disinvest from public higher education, which would disrupt scientific innovation and economic growth.
February 19 National Day of Action: Take action at a location near you, alongside UAW members in Region 6 and thousands of others across the country.
Researchers: share your story! (Check out this short training by UAW 4811 & 4121 members on how to communicate the impact of your research to a public audience)
Join ongoing member meetings to strategize and coordinate actions with fellow UAW members:
Timeline of Actions
2/13/25: As a part of the coalition Labor for Higher Education, UAW Region 6 members joined fellow academic workers from across the country for a national strategy call to discuss the impacts of the Trump administration’s cuts on research, jobs, and local economies, including concrete steps for how workers can take action build power and defend public research. Members of Locals 4811 and 4121 presented, including a mini training on how to communicate the relevance of your research for a public audience. Watch the recording here (training starts at 44:36).
2/10/25: A coalition of 22 attorneys general, including California AG Rob Bonta and Washington AG Nick Brown, filed a lawsuit over the Trump Admin’s illegal NIH funding cuts, with support from Locals 4811 and 4121. Within just a few hours, a federal judge responded by issuing a temporary restraining order against the cuts, putting a temporary halt on the policy.
2/10/25: The UAW Higher Education Department and Local 4811 hosted a Protect Public Higher Education Webinar with hundreds of academic workers across the country to build knowledge about how NIH funding works, what the Trump administration’s attacks mean, and how workers can push back. Watch the recording here.
2/3/25: Thanks to multiple lawsuits as well as the collective action of researchers across the country, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) has been restored to allow disbursements on active awards.
1/30/25: After the Trump administration rolled out an unprecedented set of restrictions on federal funding, including freezes on NIH and a pause on all federal grants, hundreds of academic workers across the country came together for a phonebank to demand our congressional representatives take action to lift these restrictions and allow scientific research in the United States to continue.
Hundreds of UAW members from across the country joined a phonebank on 1/30 to call their congressional representatives and demand that research funding restrictions be lifted.