UAW Region 8 Director Ray Curry
Ray Curry was elected Region 8 Director at the 36th Constitutional Convention on June 4, 2014. Region 8 covers Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware and four counties of Pennsylvania.
Curry was named Region 8 assistant director by Regional Director Gary Casteel on June 16, 2010, at the 35th UAW International Constitutional Convention. He was first appointed to the staff of the International Union on Oct. 10, 2004, by then-President Ron Gettelfinger as an international representative assigned to Region 8. His assignment as a servicing representative has included aerospace, automotive (Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors facilities), heavy truck, and numerous Independent Parts Supplier locations within Alabama and Tennessee. He was responsible for collective bargaining, arbitration, organizing, political action, and other bargaining unit issues.
Curry became a proud member of the UAW in July 1992 when he was hired as truck assembler at Freightliner Trucks – Mt. Holly, N.C. (now Daimler Trucks, NA). He joined UAW Local 5285 and later  became a quality assurance inspector. His first involvement was on the local’s Civil Rights committee and as a delegate for the area A. Phillip Randolph Chapter. From 1998 to 2004, he was elected by the membership of UAW Local 5285 to serve in a variety of leadership positions, including UAW Constitutional Convention delegate, chairman of the trustees, financial secretary-treasurer and alternate committeeperson. He also served as chairman of the UAW North Carolina State Political Action Committee, executive board vice president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO and was a UAW member organizer on the 2003 and 2004 Freightliner organizing drives in Cleveland, Gastonia and High Point, N.C.
A North Carolina native and military veteran, Curry served three years on active duty in the U.S. Army and five years in the U.S. Army Reserves. Continuously furthering his education over the years, he is a graduate of the University of North Carolina – Charlotte with a bachelor’s degree Business Administration - Finance. Curry also is a 2013 graduate of the University of Alabama’s Executive Masters of Business Administration program. Curry was elected as a 2012 Democratic National Convention alternate delegate on behalf of the state of Tennessee and later became a full voting delegate at the convention.
A longtime grassroots activist, Curry is a member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, the NAACP, Rutherford County Democratic Party, Unique Masonic Lodge #85, American Legion Post #177 of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and various other community and Masonic organizations. |
