Roxanne Brown set to take the lead as the United Steelworkers' first Black president

Roxanne Brown will become the international president of the United Steelworkers (USW) union on March 1, 2026.

- By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO

In doing so, she will be the first woman and the first Black person to lead North America's largest industrial union, which has some 850,000 members and has run for more than 80 years.

But there is a lot of political and economic pressure expected for Brown as she takes on the lead of the USW. The economy is unstable, and the government and lawmakers are making it hard for unions to protect their members. This is taking place just as the USW is scheduled to renegotiate contracts for its 30,000 workers at oil and petrochemical refineries in January 2026, for its aluminum industry workers in April, and for its tire and rubber workers in July 2026.

In an interview with the Amsterdam News, Brown — originally from Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in White Plains, New York — spoke about how the USW has melded its mostly white, male industrial members with union members from the more diverse service and healthcare sectors. She talked about how the USW has been able to broaden its membership across a variety of sectors by getting members to share a platform of economic equality.

AmNews: What do you think you can do for the USW in this period of time, when unions are facing headwinds with the current [Trump] administration?

Roxanne Brown: I would say a few things: next year is a really significant bargaining year for our union. Many of our major industries will be negotiating next year, including oil, aluminum, tires and rubber, paper, and steel.

It’s a big year, and there's a lot of economic uncertainty. It's October 29th today, but in three, four, or six months, I couldn't tell you what the economy will look like.