Cindy Estrada is a vice president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW). Identified as a “key to the UAW’s future,” [1] Estrada is the head of the Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), Organizing, and Women’s Departments of the labor union. [2]
Estrada is a lifelong Democrat. [3] She has publicly supported the Biden administration, [4] [5] advocates using the critical race-theory inspired concept of a “social justice fight” to make the United States a better place, [6] and has referred to dismantling of labor unions in the American south as “anti-black.” [7]
She sits on the board of the left-leaning Mi Familia Vota, [8] is a member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, [9] and previously was an organizer for the United Farm Workers labor union. [10]
Career
Cindy Estrada is a vice president of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) labor union. As of February 2022, she heads the Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), Organizing, and Women’s Departments of the union. [11] Identified as a “key to the UAW’s future,” [12] Estrada first joined the UAW as an organizer in 1995 [13] and is the first woman to run UAW’s General Motors (GM) department. [14]
Estrada publicly supports the Biden administration; [15] [16] opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and what she calls “immigrant and refugee bashing.” [17]
Estrada supports the unionization of Amazon employees, [18] advocates using the critical race-theory inspired concept of a “social justice fight” to make the United States a better place, [19] and has referred to dismantling of labor unions in the American South as “anti-black.” [20]
In 2021, Estrada received the Jewish Labor Committee’s Human Rights Award. [21]
Previously, Estrada was an organizer for the United Farm Workers labor union, [22] organized Spanish-speaking manufacturing workers at Mexican Industries in southwest Detroit in 1995, [23] ran the Michigan Organizing Center, [24] and led negotiations for the Michigan Coalition of State Employee Unions. She also led the union’s General Motors Department. [25]
She also is on the boards of the left-leaning Mi Familia Vota, The National Advisory Committee for Labor Provisions of Free Trade Agreements, the Economic Alliance of Michigan, and the Advisory Board of Labor at Wayne State University. [26]
Estrada is a lifelong Democrat and a member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. [27]
Controversy
Cindy Estrada was identified by the Detroit News as linked to a Federal investigation into corruption at the UAW that was ultimately settled in December 2020. Estrada was not charged with any wrongdoing [28] in the investigation that resulted in charges against two former UAW presidents, imposition of a monitor on the group, and a $1.5 million payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). [29]
Political Activities
Cindy Estrada is a lifelong member of the Democratic Party. [30] She has publicly supported the Biden administration [31] and its Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh. [32]
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Estrada attacked President Donald Trump as “anti-union” [33] and endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. [34] She called President Trump a “racist” in 2018. [35]
In 2016, Estrada supported the presidential campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D), [36] said that there is “never a reason to vote for Trump,” [37] and was an introduction speaker for then-President Barack Obama during a visit to the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources in Detroit, Michigan. [38]
Estrada has also made Federal Election Commission-reportable contributions to the Committee for Good Government International Union UAW, the UAW labor union’s qualified political action committee (PAC). [39] [40]
Personal Information
Cindy Estrada received an education degree from the University of Michigan. [41] She was born in 1968 and resides in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. [42] [43]