Laura Dickerson

Laura Dickerson was re-elected UAW Region 1A director by the members in December of 2022.  Her first term began at the special convention on Aug. 27, 2021, when she filled the remaining term of former Region 1A Director Chuck Browning, who was unanimously elected by the UAW International Executive Board to the position of vice president and director of the UAW Ford Department. Dickerson is the first African American woman in the history of the UAW to be elected to the International Executive Board as regional director and to be promoted to assistant director of a regional UAW office. She was appointed assistant director of Region 1A in 2020. Region 1A covers most of Wayne (including part of Detroit), Monroe and Washtenaw counties, and extends to the Ohio border.

Dickerson joined the UAW in 1997 as a member of UAW Local 600. She was elected chairperson of her unit for three terms (2002-2010) and to the bargaining team in 1999. She was elected delegate to the 34th and 35th UAW Constitutional Conventions and was selected to serve on the 35th UAW Constitutional Convention Resolutions Committee, where she was elected and served as chairperson. Dickerson has served as president of the UAW Local 600 Technical, Office and Professionals (TOP) Advisory Council and held an elected position on the UAW National Community Action Program (CAP) Advisory Council in 2010. She served on the 2011 UAW Ford National Negotiations team and served as project manager for UAW Staff Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) transition in 2014. Dickerson served as UAW Staff Council Vice President, negotiating the Staff Council agreement in 2016 and 2020; and as the UAW-Ford Enhanced Care Program Pilot Lead in 2012.

As part of her many roles with Local 600, she has been a regular volunteer in the Detroit Central United Methodist Church’s Feed the Homeless initiative, as well as the UAW-Ford’s Feed the Homeless project for Labor Day. A breast cancer survivor herself, Laura has been an avid participant in the Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure” for many years.

Laura holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Central Michigan University. Her bachelor’s degree is in Industrial Supervision and Management with a minor in Industrial Safety, while her master’s degree is in General Administration with a concentration in Health Services Administration. She was honored with the Women of Excellence Award from the Michigan Chronicle in April 2021.