Emil Ramirez

The USW International Executive Board named Emil Ramirez the union’s International Vice President (Administration) on Oct. 13, 2023.

 

Ramirez previously served as District 11 Director for 10 years, leading more than 34,000 USW members in nine Midwestern states, six of them so-called right-to-work states. 

 

He has broad negotiating experience in the public sector and in the steel, mining, rubber, aluminum, salt, textile, brick and natural gas industries. He serves as Secretary of the USW’s Container Industry Conference and as Chair of the Cement Council and Arconic Bargaining Committee, while also leading the USW’s negotiations with Cleveland-Cliffs Mining, Ardagh Beverage and ContiTech. 

Ramirez began his union career as a Pipefitter B in 1986 with USW Local 15162 at KPL/Gas Service’s Topeka, Kan., facility. As a member of Local 15162, he served as shop steward, vice president and president. He remained local president until he was appointed to the International staff in 1995 by then-USW President George Becker.

 

Ramirez served as District 11 Coordinator for the Bridgestone-Firestone corporate campaign during the 1995 work stoppage at the USW-represented Firestone plants in the United States.

 

He was assigned to the USW’s Kansas City office in January 1998 and held the position of Staff Representative until March 2004, when he was appointed Sub-District Director and assigned responsibility for offices in St. Louis and Independence, Mo.

 

Ramirez served as the District 11 Civil and Human Rights Coordinator from 1997 to 2007 and was appointed Assistant to the Director for District 11 in 2006. He was elected District 11 Director in 2013 and reelected to that position in 2017 and 2021.