WASHINGTON — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, fresh off negotiating a tentative contract at a Volkswagen AG plant in Tennessee, presented a bold goal Monday of adding 25,000 new members employed by foreign automakers in the U.S. South within the next two years.

The labor leader, addressing the UAW's national political conference in Washington, D.C., also spoke of restoring pensions at the Detroit Three automakers, securing bipartisan backing in Congress on "Medicare for All" legislation and having "every serious presidential candidate" support the policy as White House hopefuls seek working-class votes.

"This is happening in 2028," he said to an assembled crowd of roughly 1,000 union representatives (plus those watching via livestream on Facebook), painting an optimistic picture of what might be. "And you're at the 2028 (UAW) conference, cracking a beer with your oldest work friend, and you say, 'It's about dang time.'"

Fain told the audience to close their eyes and imagine that moment before reminding them of a less-rosy reality for the Detroit-based union and others like it. "Open your eyes. Welcome back," he said.

Wealth inequality, he pointed out, is at the highest level on record. Meanwhile, union membership continues to stall in the United States, the Trump administration has been hostile to organized labor, and auto manufacturing jobs are declining both nationally and in Michigan. Fain is also facing turmoil within his own organization after a series of recent scandals over retaliation and threats toward other UAW leaders.

Despite all that, Fain — pugnacious as ever amid his own reelection bid — tried to ignite a unified fighting spirit within his ranks.

"The question we're here to answer is how we rise to the occasion. I say it over and over again, this is our defining moment," he said.

UAW comes to DC

The UAW leader spoke for about 45 minutes Monday morning at the union's biannual conference for its Community Action Program, the organization's political arm responsible for fundraising, donations and advocacy toward particular candidates and causes.

Conference attendees gathered in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton, the same venue that hosts the glitzy annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. With most UAW members donning T-shirts, hoodies and other union-branded apparel, the atmosphere was less formal.

Several other speakers took the stage after Fain — including UAW officials and two Democratic lawmakers, Michigan U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan and New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — before UAW members departed to attend smaller education sessions in the afternoon.

Tuesday will feature meetings and lobbying on Capitol Hill, and Wednesday will feature a forum for Michigan U.S. Senate candidates. Three Democrats will participate — U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak and former Wayne County public health official Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Republican candidate and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan was invited to the forum, per the UAW, but is not expected to attend.

Fain's themes

Fain spent much of his time on stage criticizing the Trump administration and encouraging workers to be politically engaged ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in November.

"The working class is on the ropes," he said. "The billionaires have bought our political system, and they've rigged the rules of the game. Thirty years of free trade has hollowed out entire communities all over the country, dropping bombs on the working class, from Flint to Florida."

Fain expressed some limited support for the Trump administration's international trade moves, like its review of the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement and the deployment of tariffs on certain goods, but he quickly added criticisms.

"People are still getting hurt, and we gotta fix that. Tariffs aren't meant for political games. We support structured, targeted tariffs," the union leader said, alluding to Trump's oft-changing import tax deployments.

Fain also called out the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions, warning that violence in places like Minneapolis should serve as a warning sign for public union demonstrations too.

"I said this when the president was elected: We are not Republicans. We're not Democrats. We are trade unionists," Fain said. "We negotiate with billionaires all the time, not because we like them, not because we support them, but because our members can make results.

He continued: "But there are limits to negotiations. They have federal agents kidnapping people off the street, killing people in the streets. They killed one of our brothers out there in Minneapolis for holding a cell phone. They have deported people for exercising their right to free speech. That's not just wrong, it is an existential threat to our nation.

"If you think that can't happen on a UAW picket line, you're crazy," Fain added. "Because it was not that long ago that they were sending in the National Guard to break our strikes, sending strikers to jail, helping kill workers for fighting for better conditions."

He referred to the members of the Trump administration as "fascists," the likes of which the United States defeated overseas during World War II, and accused the "corporate class" of trying to divide workers over issues like immigration by giving them other targets for their frustrations.

"The boss wants us to do anything but stick together," Fain said. "But if we turn on one another, we're doing the boss's work for him."

He concluded: "I have one simple message from the UAW. In 2026 and 2028, from the West Coast to Detroit to D.C. to the South, at the bargaining table, in the ballot box: We are going to continue to move mountains, and we're coming for you."

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