My name is Tricia Geiger, and I’m running for UAW President.
Like many of you, I’ve watched with disappointment — and embarrassment — at the conduct coming out of the highest office in our union. We were promised reform. What we got was a toxic culture of fear and retaliation, reckless spending, coverups, and outsiders running our union — all documented in report after report by the federally appointed monitor. Unionists and opportunists can look a lot alike. Too often, we don’t know the difference until we’re living with the consequences.
When members cast their ballots in the first direct elections in our union’s history, they voted for a fighting union. They didn’t vote for endless infighting. We have won historic gains at the bargaining table — and that matters. But if we are going to build on those gains we need leadership that is unified, focused, and clear in its mission.
I’m not a career politician. I waited, hopeful that someone would step up. I’m done waiting. I didn’t plan for this moment. But I am prepared for it.
I was shaped by this union. By mentors, retirees, and activists. By my union family at GM Local 651 in Flint, Michigan — a true union town, where solidarity isn’t a slogan, it’s a way of life.
I’m an organizer at heart — always have been. I came up as an organizer and believe it is foundational to everything we do. It’s the lens I’ve carried through 20 years as a UAW member and into the last decade as an International Servicing Representative in Region 2B — handling advanced grievances, negotiating contracts, and leading members through strikes and a lockout across many sectors of this union. Every grievance, every contract, every strike taught me this: heart gets you to the table — but preparation wins. That’s why I went back to school, earning a degree in Union Leadership and Administration and a graduate certificate in Strategic Corporate Research from Cornell.
Every time we go to the table for Big 3 bargaining — and now VW — the world watches. Those contracts built the middle class and still set the standard for blue collar workers everywhere, union and non-union alike — and it is our responsibility to protect and expand that legacy. But our union is so much more than that story. IPS, aerospace, healthcare workers, higher education, public employees — every sector has its own fight, its own language, and its own version of what winning looks like. I’ve worked across enough of them to know — the member fighting to restore a lost pension is not fighting the same fight as the member who wants to increase employer 401k contributions. The member fighting to restore retiree healthcare isn’t fighting the same fight as the member who wants healthcare coverage the employer can’t change on a whim.
The challenges our members face aren’t won at the bargaining table alone. Healthcare, post-work income security, work-life balance, and the rise of AI require a plan bigger than any single contract. We need issue-based campaigns that amplify our bargaining power and drive legislative wins, build coalitions that broaden our reach, and ensure our bargainers are trained and prepared to execute at the highest level.
I know this because this work has always been personal — for me.
My grandfather was a migrant farmworker from Texas. In the 1950s he traveled to Saginaw for the strawberry harvest — and stayed, because General Motors was hiring in Flint. He camped outside that building for days until he got hired into Fisher Body Local 598. It changed his life. It changed our family’s life. When he told me that story I said to him — you were lucky GM gave you that job. He looked at me and said: GM never gave me anything. It was my union.
He dedicated his life to service through this union. And that is why I have always fought fiercely — for every member, every fight, every time. Because it is never about dollars and cents. It is always about people and the quality of their lives.
I don’t carry his union card in my wallet. I carry something of far greater consequence — his legacy.
I’m running because our union needs leadership that knows power doesn’t live in a corner office or a title — it lives with the membership. Leadership that trusts the membership — and earns their trust. Leadership that honors the privilege of serving with integrity. Leadership that is ready to fight. That is the kind of president I will be.
There is no employer we can’t take on. There is no fight we can’t face. I’m asking for your trust and your vote. Let’s show the labor movement what unified, prepared leadership looks like — and show every working person the power of our union.