Dear UAW International Executive Board,

We are members of the National Organization of Legal Services Workers, UAW Local 2320 (NOLSW), and are advocates at legal, human service, and advocacy programs across the country. We believe in the fundamental value and dignity of every human being and strive for a justice system that does the same.

As the only national amalgamated local of the UAW, Local 2320 currently has over 110 bargaining units (groups of workers covered by a contract with individual employers). And, unlike any other UAW local, we have bargaining units located in every region of the country. When NOLSW affiliated with the UAW, NOLSW’s leaders insisted on guarantees that it would be able to keep its national structure and a greater percentage of its members’ dues in the form of a very significant “subsidy” to enable NOLSW to continue hiring its own staff to service its members to maintain the vision and values of NOLSW.

In 2015, the UAW moved to eliminate all subsidies, but Local 2320 negotiated with UAW Financial Secretary Gary Casteel to convert Local 2320’s subsidy into a servicing credit. The UAW persisted in negotiating the amount of the servicing credit as Local 2320 continued to fight to protect the servicing credit and its national structure. While the UAW eliminated all other subsidies received by other UAW Locals, the UAW International Executive Board (IEB) agreed that the Local 2320 servicing credit was a necessary and mutually beneficial arrangement given the unique nature of our Local. In 2021, Local 2320 reached a long-term agreement with the UAW, under which the UAW would gradually reduce Local 2320’s servicing credit to a permanent, sustainable level of $410,000. The UAW retained the right to revisit the servicing credit agreement if justified by a change in the UAW or NOLSW’s financial condition.

Therefore, we were shocked to learn that in December 2022, the UAW’s IEB voted to completely eliminate our servicing credit effective at the end of March 2023 without communicating with the Local in advance about the UAW or NOLSW financial situation that necessitated such a decision and without making a plan for how our units would be serviced going forward. This cut, if it is not rescinded, will devastate Local 2320’s ability to service us in the manner they have been for decades and in a manner that we prefer. The loss of the servicing credit forced the Local to issue layoff notices to nearly half of the NOLSW organizers. These organizers have supported us in organizing our units, negotiating our contracts, grieving contract violations, and supporting our units. If we lose our NOLSW organizers, who is going to help us understand our mission, our members, and how to work with not-for-profit employers funded by grants and donations?

Unlike prior discussions around changes in the servicing credit, the IEB failed to communicate with Local 2320 before issuing this decision and failed to establish or communicate any plan on how the UAW would continue to service our units when the servicing credit ends on March 31, 2023. This devastating decision threatens the progress our units have made in gaining contracts that support equity and social justice and allows us to continue to afford to work with the most vulnerable populations.

We, the members of NOLSW, UAW Local 2320, value our national structure and the representation we receive from Local NOLSW Regional Organizers. We believe that the servicing credit Local 2320 receives from the UAW is critical to representing us and honoring our Local’s history, the pursuit of social justice, and unique national structure. We, the members of NOLSW, UAW Local 2320, therefore, call on the UAW’s IEB to rescind its decision to eliminate NOLSW’s servicing credit and negotiate an enforceable agreement outlining the terms and conditions of the reinstated servicing credit for NOLSW.

In Solidarity,
Members of NOLSW, UAW Local 2320