Indiana District 22 State Representative candidate Brian Smith announced he received the endorsement of the United Auto Workers. Since its founding in the 1930s, the UAW has been a preeminent voice of millions of hardworking Americans and a force for social progress across the country, according to a press release from Smith. In 1944, the UAW was the first union to hold a women’s conference to call for equal pay for women who had entered the labor force to build the Jeeps and tanks necessary for the Allies to win the war. In 1961, before the landmark Civil Rights Act was passed, the UAW won a concession from Ford, which guaranteed that hiring decisions would not be made based on race, creed, color or national origin, the release states. In 1963, UAW President Walter Reuther stood with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and mobilized autoworkers from all over the country to join the March on Washington. Reuther also marched with King in Selma, Ala., in 1965. Today, the UAW has been a driving force for LGBT Americans, the release states. In 2002, the UAW secured same-sex partner benefits from the “Big 3” automakers, and is still actively fighting for true LGBT equality, according to the release. UAW’s endorsements can be found online at http://uawendorsements.org/official-endorsement/indiana/ “I am honored to stand with the tens of thousands of Hoosier UAW employees who are working everyday to make Indiana, and the country, a more equal and prosperous place,” Smith said.
