Jeff Binz Elected UAW Region 9 Director

Buffalo, N.Y. -- Jeff Binz was elected UAW Region 9 director today at a 2018 UAW Region 9 Special Convention, in Buffalo, New York, to fill the remaining term of former director Terry Dittes, who was elected as a UAW Vice President in January 2018.

As director, Binz serves on the UAW International Executive Board.

“In Region 9, we are a team. The hard-working members here bring the same spirit to their work and communities as Walter Reuther and our other great leaders have done since then. I plan to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as we continue fighting for good jobs, strong communities and political and economic justice.”

Since 2000, when UAW President Stephen P. Yokich appointed Binz to Region 9 to serve as director of the region’s Retired Workers Department, he has served the union in numerous leadership roles within the union’s Community Action Program (CAP) and the Retired Workers Department.

His leadership has included positions as the region’s national CAP representative, Region 9 retiree director and Region 9 New Jersey area director. Also, his assignments have taken him throughout the region where he has worked directly with active and retired members.

Born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, Binz attended area schools and has been a life-long community activist.

His past and current community involvement includes serving as a member of the executive board of the Mercer County AFL-CIO, vice president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, a member of the Knights of Columbus, a trustee of the Delaware Valley United Way, and a director of Community Service for the Knights of Columbus in Hamilton, New Jersey. Also, he serves on the board of the Workforce Development Institute in Albany, New York.

Binz joined UAW Local 731 on Jan. 5, 1976, when he was hired at the General Motors Co. plant in Trenton, New Jersey. He was a member of the UAW Local 731 Executive Board, serving as board member-at-large from 1978 to 1981, committeeperson from 1981 to 1987, shop committeeperson from 1987 to 1990 and was elected to the position of local union president serving in that capacity from 1990 to 2000. From 1990 to 1996, he served in the elected position of Region 9 New Jersey CAP Council vice president.

From 1996 to 2000 co-workers elected him to serve as the Region 9 CAP Council financial secretary.

His parents also were members of UAW Local 731 in Trenton. His mother, Laura, worked at General Motors as a press operator until her retirement in 1978, as well as father, Claude, who worked as a millwright retiring in 1973.

Binz, whose original local closed, is now a member of Local 774 in Buffalo, New York.

He resides in Burlington, New Jersey, with his wife, Deborah, and daughter Victoria.

UAW Region 9 covers western and central New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, excluding the counties of Franklin, Cumberland, Adams and York.

UAW Region 9 members work in automotive, aerospace and steel industries, and include members at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Members make doors, quarter panels, hoods, fenders and other stamped parts for Ford F-150, 250 and 350 trucks, Flex, Edge, Focus and Econoline vehicles, and for Lincoln MKX and MKTs. Members also build the V-22 Osprey troop transport helicopter and the Chinook medium-lift helicopter at the Boeing facility in Philadelphia.