Our Union

The USW is 1.2 million working and retired members throughout the United States and Canada, working together to improve our jobs; to build a better future for our families; and to promote fairness, justice and equality both on the job and in our societies. Our union is a resource, an organization that helps us achieve those goals, a network made up of hundreds of thousands of workers just like you, united to face the challenge of an ever-changing workplace in a constantly changing world. Our members work in just about every sector of the North American economy, from metals and mining and manufacturing, to health care and various services in both the public and private sectors. Together, we make our union one of the most diverse in the world. Many Industries, One Strong Union In the USW, diversity isn't some politically correct buzzword for the new millenium. It's a tradition as old as the union itself. Established as the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) in 1936 to coordinate the massive drive to organize the North American steel industry, our organization grew in just six years to become the United Steelworkers on May 22, 1942. Within two years of its founding convention, the USW began to broaden its ranks, when the Aluminum Workers voted unanimously to join the Steelworkers on June 30, 1944. The USW wasn't just for Steelworkers any more. The Aluminum Workers was only the first of ten unions to join the USW. Each brought a new wave of diversity to our union, eventually spreading Steelworkers through virtually every industry on the North American continent.