Community Action Program (CAP) Committee
Grad Workers are Fighting Beyond Penn
Penn Grad Workers formed one of the largest private-sector unions in the history of Philadelphia and won a transformative contract because thousands of us took action together. That same power can shape the city where we live and work.
By collectively enforcing our contract, Grad Workers protect our pay, benefits, and rights on the job. But our lives are shaped as much in City Hall as College Hall. The decisions made there affect how much we pay for rent, the presence of federal law enforcement officials in our neighborhoods, and how much our multi-billion-dollar employer pays back to our city. Grad Workers formed a Community Action Program (CAP) Committee to bring the same collective action that won our contract into local politics.
Just like in the fight for our first contract, Penn Grad Workers are following a proven plan. In recent elections in New York City and Providence, our graduate student worker union siblings at Columbia and Brown helped elect pro-labor candidates to city office. By fighting together, Grad Workers can do the same in Philly.
The CAP Committee meets Fridays at 4:00 PM. To get involved or learn more, fill out the interest form or email cap@getup-uaw.org.
Grad Workers set the agenda
Grad Workers lead our union, and so candidates who want us to fight for them will have to fight for our shared values, reflected in an agenda that we write together.
Here’s how Grad Workers are building our agenda:
- During Fall 2026, Grad Workers are talking with our coworkers about what policies we want to fight for together. Our coworkers on the CAP Committee are circulating a short survey about our priorities to help guide those discussions.
- On Thursday, November 12, 2026, Grad Workers will review the survey results at the November Membership Social and Meeting, starting at 5pm. Together, we’ll write a UAW Local 5124 Municipal Legislative Agenda for Philly.
- Once we ratify our agenda, Grad Workers will invite candidates for municipal office to a UAW Members’ Candidates Forum on Thursday, February 4, 2027. Before we commit to supporting any candidate in the primaries in May, they’ll have to show us that they’re going to fight for the issues we care about.
- Grad Workers will fight for the candidates we collectively choose to support. Ultimately, we’ll turn out to vote in the primary election on Tuesday, May 18, 2027.
Grad Workers are part of a movement
Philly is a union town. Grad Workers won our contract by standing together, and we’re standing with the labor movement and with working people across our city. We’re building our political program in coalition with our UAW siblings at Local 5502 (attorneys at the Defender Association of Philadelphia) and Local 2320 (the National Organization of Legal Services Workers), who will work with Grad Workers to write a joint UAW Legislative Agenda for Philly and to organize the Candidates Forum on February 4.
Under US election law, corporations can effectively contribute as much as they want to political campaigns. In Philly, real estate developers are planning to spend $1.5 million to protect incumbents in the upcoming primaries. But the law prevents workers from using the collectively-controlled resources we pool via union dues to do the same. To counteract this power imbalance, UAW members across the city—including more than two hundred Grad Workers—elect to contribute to our political action fund. These contributions support the candidates we decide to endorse together.
To contribute to V-CAP, fill out the membership sign-up again and elect to contribute on the final page.
