Another statement and photo from each of our candidates for President of UAW Local 2322 is below. This completes the series of two side-by-sides. If you missed the first statements, you can still view them online.

We forgot to mention in our last email that one of our three candidates stepped out of the race, leaving two in the running.

Please update your contact info! Ballots go out April 25. 

And please vote!

UAW 2322 Elections Committee
Matthew Donlevy, Alyssa Goldstein, Hannah Levine, Monica Nelson, Luke Pretz; Alternate: Carly Overfelt

p.s. PDFs of Candidate statements one and two​ are available to download and print.

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UAW 2322 Candidates for President

Statement 2

April 13, 2016

The following statements were created by the candidates and collected by the the UAW 2322 Elections Committee, in order to provide members an opportunity to learn about the candidates. Candidates’ first statements were emailed and posted on April 7. Distribution of these statements does not constitute endorsement by UAW 2322. They appear in the randomly drawn order in which candidates will appear on the ballot.

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Jocelyn Silverlight

Many UAW Local 2322 members reached out after I announced my campaign for re-election, expressing support to move our union forward. In my second term, I will continue to fight alongside you for a stronger Local across the board, from our smallest shops to our largest shop.

My record reflects a commitment to every member of this union. One of my first actions as President was to sit with the workers at the SPCA Early Education Center in Springfield, who had gone without a contract for years. Together, we negotiated a contract. I have supported successful contract campaigns at YWCA, RAU, GEO, SPCA, NCYF, and other shops. After hearing about dangerous conditions facing workers at Cutchins, ServiceNet, and Providence Hospital, among other places, I began working with legislation that would protect many of our members from violence in the social services and mental health sectors.

If I’m re-elected, our Local will continue to push forward; we cannot, and will not, take a step backwards. We are more united today than when I first took office. By the end of my second term we will stand together even stronger. Thank you for your vote to re-elect me, Jocelyn Silverlight for president.

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John McGrath

Please watch George Carlin’s video, “It’s a Big Club and You  Ain’t In It!” on YouTube. I’ve been working for 35 years and his insight remains true at the Local, State and National levels. Workers have sometimes been getting betrayed by their own and other unions to facilitate personal power, paychecks and pensions. Nothing gets fixed until we make our own side walk their talk of Solidarity and Unity. In contrast our Public, Profit and “Non-Profit” employers stick together while we lose.

The workers of the middle class stand on the shoulders of giants who lost their lives to build the Labor Movement. If we remember and respect the price that they paid we won’t have to repeat history. Labor Leaders have failed us the last 40 years. They don’t want anyone in office that will say it and hold them accountable. Their priority seems to be to, “manage” the decline of Unions long enough to get theirs and get out. They “Sheepdog” the next generation by incorporating them into the dysfunctional leadership that created this mess, especially in election years.

Courage, not luck, changes this!

Please mail in your Vote for John McGrath by Friday the 13th of May.