Will LehmanFor UAW President

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Statements

Read Will Lehman's statements on the UAW, the auto industry, and the fight for rank-and-file control of our union.

Will Lehman, rank-and-file candidate for UAW President
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Featured Statement

Why I’m running for UAW President in 2026

The purpose of this campaign is to end the dictatorship of the Solidarity House bureaucracy, re-establish the needs of the rank and file as the purpose of the union, and mobilize the full industrial power of the membership to defend democratic rights.

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Civilians and rescue workers in red helmets searching through the rubble of the bombed Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, Iran

Against the US-Israeli imperialist war on Iran

On April 25, I introduced this resolution against the US-Israeli war on Iran at a meeting of UAW Local 677. The local apparatus voted it down 7–1, with mine the only vote in favor. I urge workers to read, print, and distribute it widely, and to organize discussion and action independent of the bureaucracy.

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USAF F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet with tail code LN releasing a laser-guided bomb mid-flight over a mountainous desert landscape

No to Trump’s “Arsenal of Genocide”! Autoworkers must oppose the Pentagon’s war production drive

I call on autoworkers to oppose the Pentagon’s push to enlist GM and Ford in an accelerated arms buildup. The UAW bureaucracy is fully backing the war production drive—workers must build rank-and-file committees to organize independently against the war economy.

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Three-panel collage of Harvard graduate student workers picketing in the snow, holding blue “UAW ON STRIKE” signs outside red-brick Harvard campus buildings

Mobilize every UAW member behind the Harvard workers strike!

I welcome and fully support the walkout by more than 4,000 Harvard graduate workers. Every UAW member should be mobilized behind their strike—and rank-and-file committees, independent of the bureaucracy, are needed to expand it into a broader movement against war, repression and austerity.

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Başaran Aksu speaking at a podium with a microphone, a Turkish-language Umut-Sen union banner projected on the wall behind him

Hands off Turkish class war prisoner Başaran Aksu!

I condemn the arrest of Turkish independent union leader Başaran Aksu, Organizing Coordinator of Umut-Sen. His real “crime” was standing on the front lines of wildcat strikes by miners, warehouse, and textile workers. An injury to one is an injury to all.

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Shawn Fain speaking at a podium flanked by American and UAW flags, with “STAND UP” campaign signage behind him

UAW President Shawn Fain’s “Stand Up Slate”: A bureaucratic merger of pro-company hacks

I urge workers to reject Shawn Fain’s new Stand Up Slate as a reshuffling of the same bureaucracy, not a break from it. Four of its thirteen candidates ran on Ray Curry’s Solidarity Team sellout slate in 2022–23. The bureaucracy cannot be reformed—it must be abolished.

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A group of Harvard graduate student workers in red HGSU-UAW t-shirts posing behind a banner reading 'Harvard Graduate Students Union — HGSU-UAW Local 5118, a union of student workers at Harvard University, Established 2015'

Harvard graduate workers: Your strike points the way forward—but beware the UAW apparatus

I fully support the Harvard graduate workers strike. But victory requires forming rank-and-file committees independent of the UAW apparatus, which has a documented history of suppressing strikes and selling out workers.

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Kennedy Orwa, a man in a blue patterned shirt, with his arm around his teenage son who is wearing a black New Balance jacket

Oppose the deportation of UAW member Kennedy Orwa!

I condemn the deportation of University of Washington graduate student and UAW member Kennedy Orwa and his son, and call on UAW members to mobilize against this assault on immigrant workers and democratic rights.

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Will Lehman in a work jacket standing in front of large industrial windows

Vote Will Lehman and Joe David for delegates at UAW 677 at Mack Trucks on April 9! Power to the rank and file!

Joe David and I are standing as delegates for UAW Local 677 as part of an insurgent slate throughout the UAW. We are running not to get cushy jobs inside the apparatus, but to abolish it and transfer power to the rank and file.

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Ronald Adams Sr. with his wife and children in a family portrait, all wearing white

One year since the death of Stellantis worker Ronald Adams Sr.: The cover-up must end now!

Ronald Adams Sr. was killed one year ago because safety systems had been systematically dismantled. MIOSHA has still not released its investigation. Workers must build rank-and-file safety committees and assert control over safety and production themselves.

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Workers leaving the Nexteer Plant 4 main entrance in Saginaw

Nexteer workers: Prepare for a real fight after defeating the UAW’s sellout contract!

Your 96 percent “no” vote is a powerful and historic act. But a “no” vote is only the beginning. Form a Nexteer Rank-and-File Committee and prepare for strike action organized by workers themselves.

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Workers leaving the Factory Zero East Gate employee entrance at General Motors in Detroit

Fight the layoffs at GM’s Factory Zero and throughout the auto industry

GM has again idled Factory Zero in Detroit, laying off 1,300 workers. Workers should build rank-and-file committees to enforce a zero-layoff policy. The UAW bureaucracy’s silence is not passivity—it is complicity.

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Workers leaving the Nexteer Plant 4 main entrance in Saginaw

Nexteer workers: Vote “NO” on sellout agreement! Organize the rank and file to oversee balloting and prepare a strike!

I urge Nexteer workers in Saginaw to reject the four-year tentative agreement containing sweeping concessions. Workers must organize rank-and-file oversight of the ballot and prepare for strike action.

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Will Lehman

The bureaucracy can't be reformed. It must be abolished. Ready to build rank-and-file power?

Will Lehman for UAW President