Naperville Sun: UAW local president to be Foster's State of Union guest

U.S. Rep Bill Foster, D-Naperville, has announced that union president Matt Frantzen will be his guest at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 7.

Frantzen is president of United Auto Workers Local 1268 in Belvidere and met with Biden during a visit to Belvidere last November to celebrate a planned reopening of the Belvidere Assembly Plant as part of a new labor contract. The UAW workers negotiated with Stellantis to revitalize the plant that was idled last February and laid off 1,200 workers.

The new agreement that ended a six-week strike by the United Auto Workers closed a 30-year-old Stellantis parts distribution facility in Naperville and let workers transfer. It is to bring a projected 2,500 jobs to Belvidere, which is more than were lost when the plant was idled.

“Matt’s leadership of UAW Local 1268 over the past year was crucial to our efforts to save the Belvidere Assembly Plant, as was the solidarity of UAW members in Belvidere and across the Midwest,” Foster said in a news release.

“The assembly plant has been the beating heart of the Belvidere community for decades, providing good jobs and serving as an economic engine for the entire region. I’m proud that we were able to work together — all levels of government, the UAW and Stellantis — to forge a deal that won’t just allow workers to get back on the job at the Assembly Plant, but will also bring billions of dollars in new investments to Belvidere.”

Frantzen said in the news release that after Stellantis idled the assembly plant last February, Foster was one of the first to call asking how he could help.

“From getting the White House involved to securing federal incentives, he played a vital role in ensuring the plant reopened and workers could return to Belvidere,” Frantzen said in a statement. “Thanks to the tenacity of UAW leadership and workers across the country, last year was a historic year for labor.”