Cindy Estrada is an American

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

leader, the former vice president of the

United Auto Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and sou ...

union, and an activist for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

and

worker's rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, ...

. She served as UAW vice president from 2010 through her retirement in 2022, and was the first Latina to fill the role.

Education

Estrada graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in education from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and originally had planned on becoming a teacher. After graduating from college, she had the opportunity to work on a campaign alongside farmworkers and civil rights activist

Dolores Huerta Dolores Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is an American labor leader and feminist activist. After working for several years with the Community Service Organization (CSO), she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with fellow activ ...

, organizing with the

United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the National Farm Workers Associatio ...

union. She cites these experiences in drawing her towards becoming a labor organizer.

Career

Estrada began working for the UAW in 1995. Soon after joining, she helped to organize workers at Mexican Industries, resulting in "one of the UAW's largest victories among Spanish-speaking manufacturing workers". Estrada was elected to her first term as UAW vice president in 2010. In this role, Estrada was the lead negotiator responsible for over 17,000 UAW members within Michigan. In 2014, Estrada took over as head of UAW's

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Department, becoming the first woman and first Latina to fill the role. She was also elected to her second term as UAW vice president. IN 2017, Estrada was considered "of interest" in a federal investigation regarding misappropriated funds for a training center jointly operated by UAW and Fiat Chrysler. Estrada was never charged or named in any court filings, but corruption charges were brought against her immediate predecessor, Joe Ashton, who was eventually convicted. In 2018, Estrada took over leadership of the

Stellantis Stellantis N.V. is a multinational automaker formed in 2021 through the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of the Italian–American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group, PSA (Peugeot S.A.) Group. The company's hea ...

department (formerly the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles department). Estrada announced her retirement as UAW vice president in 2022.

Advocacy

Estrada is both an advocate for women's rights and worker's rights. On the topic of women's rights, Estrada has stated how she "strongly believes that women need to take a seat at the table in order to be heard". For worker's rights, Estrada has cited studies that show how unionization has yielded higher wages and benefits for Latinos. Calling it an "economic issue", Estrada has said: "We need to get to a place where it becomes unacceptable for company executives to be making $20 million a year while they pay their workers $10 an hour." In 2021, Estrada was awarded the Jewish Labor Committee's 2021 Human Rights Award. UAW president Ray Curry said that: “Cindy works every day with a goal of preserving the dignity of all human rights in our workplace and our society".

Personal life

Estrada is the mother of twin boys.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estrada, Cindy American trade union leaders American women's rights activists American women trade unionists Hispanic and Latino American people Living people Trade unionists from Michigan United Auto Workers people Women trade union leaders Year of birth missing (living people) University of Michigan alumni Vice presidents of the AFL-CIO