UAW Demands Support for EV Workers Before Endorsing Biden
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New leaders of the United Auto Workers are withholding the union’s endorsement for President Joe Biden’s re-election until the administration throws its weight behind a “just transition” to electric vehicles, according to a letter sent May 2 by newly elected UAW President Shawn Fain that was obtained by The Detroit News.
The letter to UAW employees comes a week after Fain’s visit with lawmakers and the Biden administration in Washington. It details what the union representing Detroit Three autoworkers wants to see from the administration and what its expectations are before endorsing a candidate.
“The federal government is pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers,” Fain wrote. “The EV transition is at serious risk of becoming a race to the bottom. We want to see national leadership have our back on this before we make any commitments.”
Fain also noted that another term for former President Donald Trump “would be a disaster,” but said UAW members need an alternative “that delivers real results.”
A major issue for the UAW are joint-venture battery plants partially owned by the Detroit Three automakers. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV all have battery plants built in partnership with foreign batterymakers. The UAW has so far only organized one battery plant: the GM/LG Energy Solution Ultium Cells facility in Warren, Ohio. The other battery plants are not in operation yet.
The Ultium workforce at the northeast Ohio plant in December overwhelmingly voted in favor of unionizing with hopes of pay raises and better safety standards. Workers there start at $16.50 per hour, about half of what an hourly worker under the GM-UAW national contract makes ($32.32 at the end of the current contract), and work up to $20 per hour over seven years.
“This is not a just transition,” Fain said was their message to members of Congress and the Biden administration. “We expect action from the people in power to make it right.”
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Fain and GM Vice President Mike Booth, head of the union’s GM department, were meeting with Ultium workers on May 3 in Warren to discuss the benefits of joining the national agreement the UAW has with GM, which is what the union would like to see happen. Negotiations between Ultium and the UAW began earlier this year.
“We were very adamant” with the Biden administration and others “that if the government is going to funnel billions in taxpayer money to these companies, the workers must be compensated with top wages and benefits,” Fain wrote in his letter. He added that a “just transition” to electric vehicles “has to include standards for our members and future workers. These jobs should fall under our master agreements, and our members should have the rights to this work.”
Last week, Fain, who was elected in March in the UAW’s historic first direct election, met with officials in the Biden administration and several members of Congress including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter also comes just over a week after Fain told reporters that the union is taken for granted by Democrats, who assume members will support Democratic campaigns with funding and phone banking, and that members will “back the candidates that support us” in 2024.
The Biden administration and Democrats in Congress last year passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes billions in direct and indirect subsidies to automakers to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. Many of those provisions come with rules that incentivize companies to locate manufacturing facilities in the United States, but they do not come with significant labor requirements aside from incentives to meet prevailing wage.
Biden announced he would be running for president in 2024 on April 25. Several labor unions have already endorsed Biden’s bid for re-election, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the National Education Association and the Service Employees International Union.
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