Laura Dickerson | Woman of Achievement & Courage Award Honoree
- Year: 2026
- Location: WomanUp and Celebrate Southeast Michigan
Vice President of UAW
Laura Dickerson was elected to serve as Vice President by the UAW International Executive Board in June 2025. She was sworn in on July 1, succeeding Vice President Chuck Browning, who retired June 30. She is the first African American woman in the history of the UAW to be elected to the International Executive Board, and now the first African American women to serve as Vice President.
Dickerson serves as the Director of the UAW Ford, Agricultural Implement, and Chaplaincy Departments. She is the former Director of the TOP and Purchasing Departments. Dickerson was assigned to the position of Director of the Technical, Office and Professional (TOP) Department in March of 2024. Prior to that, Dickerson was elected to the position of UAW Region 1A Director at a special convention in 2021 and re-elected by the members in December 2022.
Dickerson was elected as a regional director and had been previously promoted to assistant director of a regional UAW office, which was also a first. She was appointed assistant director of Region 1A in 2020.
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 has been honored with many awards including the Women of Excellence Award from the Michigan Chronicle in April 2021, Detroit Woman of the Year in 2024, and Exemplary Woman in Labor in 2025.
