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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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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NYU academic workers picketing outside a university building

Support the New York University academic workers strike!

950 NYU full-time contract faculty have walked out on strike. I fully support your strike — your fight is part of the developing offensive of the working class against austerity, dictatorship and war.

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BİRTEK-SEN leader Mehmet Türkmen addresses striking workers of Başpınar Organised Industrial Zone

Free Mehmet Türkmen! The arrest of an independent union leader is an attack on the entire working class

I condemn the arrest of Mehmet Türkmen, general secretary of BİRTEK-SEN, and demand his immediate release. Workers must reach out across borders and build networks of solidarity capable of defending any worker facing repression.

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Gregory Knopf / Facebook

For a rank-and-file investigation into the death of Ford worker Gregory Knopf!

Gregory Knopf was killed at Ford’s Sharonville Transmission Plant when a press machine activated during maintenance. My campaign calls for rank-and-file safety committees with real authority to halt unsafe operations and conduct independent investigations.

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Columbia graduate students on a picket line holding “UAW On Strike” signs during the 2020–2021 strike

UAW bureaucracy betrays Columbia graduate student workers: Rank and file must fight back

Columbia graduate and undergraduate workers voted 91.5 percent to authorize a strike, but the UAW apparatus moved immediately to block it. I call on workers to form independent rank-and-file committees and take control of their own struggle.

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A sign for JBS Foods (source: JBS)

Support the strike of JBS meatpacking workers in Colorado!

I call on autoworkers across the country to support the JBS workers in Greeley, Colorado. Workers must build rank-and-file committees to expand this struggle and enforce democratic oversight over negotiations.

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NIH Fellows in 2023

Oppose Trump’s union-busting attack on National Institutes of Health researchers!

I call on all UAW members and workers to rally to the defense of NIH workers and build rank-and-file committees to prepare collective action, including a general strike to defend the jobs and rights of all workers.

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Students and teachers march together at the University of California-Los Angeles, April 29, 2024

University of California academic workers: Enforce your strike mandate!

UC academic workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize strike action, but the UAW bureaucracy has ignored this mandate. I urge workers on every campus to organize rank-and-file committees to enforce the will of the membership.

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Ronald Adams and family

11 months since the death of Ronald Adams Sr.: Workers cannot forgive and forget what happened to our brother

Eleven months after Ronald Adams Sr. was crushed to death at Stellantis Dundee, his family still has no answers. I urge workers to demand the immediate release of the MIOSHA investigation and hold those responsible accountable.

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Family service workers on strike in Lorain County, Ohio, March 2026

UAW rank and file must support Local 2192 strikers and fight the assault on social services!

More than 140 UAW Local 2192 caseworkers and social service workers in Lorain County, Ohio are on strike against poverty wages and chronic understaffing. Their fight is inseparable from the defense of the social programs that millions of workers depend on.

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Stellantis workers leaving the plant at shift change, some wearing high-visibility vests

No profit sharing: A slap in the face to Stellantis workers who produced billions

The elimination of profit-sharing checks means bills unpaid, homes at risk, and plans postponed. What workers need is not profit sharing but workers’ power to wrest back the concessions stolen from us.

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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