August 25, 2026
2026 UAW Region 8 Summer School Day Three
The third day of the 2026 UAW Region 8 Summer School kicked off with the Director’s Breakfast. Region 8 Assistant Director George Palmer kicked the morning off with a welcome and a list of the day’s events. “Thank you all for being here and I hope everyone slept well,” Assistant Director Palmer stated.
Director Smith came forward to introduce UAW President Shawn Fain. “President Fain is there every time we call him for help here in Region 8 and we welcome him here today.”
UAW International President Shawn Fain was the keynote speaker for the morning. “I wanted to thank Director Smith and Assistant Director Palmer for the invitation and the job they do here in Region 8,” President Fain stated. “It is hard to cover 17 states but they do it. This is a great membership here and we are proud of you. Bargaining requires us all, the leadership, local leadership and the members. In 2023 we stood up together and you accomplished great gains. We have to continue to fight. We created the department of bargaining strategies and we want to take what we learned from the Stand-Up Strike and use it across this union.
At Daimler Truck we saw great gains and the locals in Region 8 led the way. Power is not from me, or the board, power comes from the membership. Look at what we accomplished at American Axle, they stood together and won their contract. I can’t stand to hear “we can’t do that.” We can do amazing things together.
The Stand Up Strike was not a one time thing. We have to aim high, to win for our members. Corporations have earned passive profits and our members deserve their part.
Region 8 has led the way on organizing. We have seen 3200 new members at Volkswagen in Chattanooga. They worked and won their first contract. We are still hopefully at Mercedes in Alabama. We added 5000 new members at the National Institute of Health. Walter Reuther used to say our greatest threat as a union was to rest on the success we have built. We still have a lot of things to fix and new battles to win. We have to keep pushing. Technology is a challenge. AI is something we are all concerned with. Going forward, all of our contracts will include language to protect workers from AI. Another statement from Walter Reuther was we have to master technology not let it master us.
The companies we represent are making record profits. 94% of the profits these companies generate goes back to Wall Street. Our industries are all changing but our issues are all the same. Wages, benefits and respect are all still the same. We are on a mission to take back our power.”
Following President Fain’s address, the delegation moved to the lobby for a group photo. Following which, delegates dispersed to the classrooms when they spent the remainder of the day with instruction.
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