UAW Local 2209 - Roanoke, IN
A Brief History of UAW Local 2209 - Roanoke, IN
A group of 15 members from St. Louis, Missouri and Janesville, Wisconsin chartered UAW Local 2209 on September 16, 1985, and helped launch the GM Fort Wayne Assembly (FWA) Plant. As production for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra picked up, members transferred in from all over the nation, from as far west as California and as far east as Maryland.
Over a decade later Local 2209 added Unit 2, the GM Nurses who staff the medical department in the FWA plant.
With the economic boom of the '90s and the strong leadership and membership of Local 2209, the plant flourished and GM Fort Wayne Assembly became GMs number 1 truck plant and their largest money maker.
However, Local 2209 is no stranger to hard times. And as the economy started to tighten in the late 2000's, GM sub-contracted the facility support work in the plant. Shortly after, Local 2209 organized and welcomed the Caravan (CFM) employees into their Union, as their Unit 3.
After the US economy collapsed, GM closed one of their truck assembly plants and consolidated their manufacturing. Although the economy was struggling the demand for full size pickup trucks was strong, and in 2010 FWA added a 3rd shift.
Four years later, a tire and wheel sequencing plant was built across the road from FWA, and after a successful organizing drive, the employees at Avancez Tire and Wheel (formerly Android) were welcomed into the Local and become Unit 4. Their maintenance technicians also came together and organized to become Unit 5 at Local 2209.
About three decades after Local 2209 was chartered they added Unit 6 Ruan Trucking and shortly after welcomed Unit 7 Avancez VAA where they sequence headliners. In late 2020, the booth cleaners in the Paint department at FWA, who work for MPS, became Unit 8.
Most recently, at the end of 2021, Local 2049 was consolidated into Local 2209 and the members from Superior Essex became Unit 9.
Local 2209's diverse and strong membership has continued to grow and includes 4,300 members and 9 Units throughout 3 sectors of the UAW. The members of Local 2209 have very active Standing Committees and pride themselves on finding new and exciting ways to serve their membership and communities. The Local is always evolving, embracing new technology and ideas to communicate with and educate their members.