Auto Union Withholding Support for Biden Over Lack of Support for Workers at Electric Vehicle Factories
The United Auto Workers president recently lamented how Democrats take the union for granted.
The United Auto Workers has not endorsed President Joe Biden because he has not done or said anything for those who work in electric vehicle factories:
In a memo sent to UAW members Tuesday, President Shawn Fain said the union wants to see Biden push more forcefully for better wages and benefits for workers at EV facilities. He cited factors like a battery plant that General Motors Co. is helping to develop in Ohio, where workers will start at $16.50 per hour, nearly half of what GM workers made at a nearby GM plant before it closed in 2019.
“The federal government is pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers. The EV transition is at serious risk of becoming a race to the bottom,” Fain wrote in the memo. “We want to see national leadership have our back on this before we make any commitments.”
He said he and other leaders recently met with Biden administration officials to push their case.
“We were very adamant 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,” he said. “A ‘just transition’ has to include standards for our members and future workers.”
Organized labor is not against electric vehicles. The union is worried about the transition.
The plant in Ohio is the GM/LG Energy Solution Ultium Cells LLC facility. The workers voted to unionize for “pay raises and better safety standards.”
But no matter what, UAW won’t support President Donald Trump.
However, Fain told reporters last week that Democrats take the UAW for granted. They assume the UAW will endorse them because they’re Democrats and get funding:
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.
Context: Fein was asked how he would deal with the union’s traditional support for Democrats when many of its members voted for Trump. He said they would see where they get support as they head into negotiations. https://t.co/T5EWyttfUn
— Riley Beggin (@rbeggin) April 21, 2023
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Ask all the unions involved in the Keystone pipeline how BUYden took care of them. YOU might be better off if he doesn’t.
These guys are kinda slow on the uptake. If the Democrats get their way most people won’t own a car at all. It seems unlikely that the UAW’s membership will keep their jobs in that case.
Obama bailed out GM with EV car development strings attached – no management or union restructuring. Just a blank check for bulldozing cash into a highly questionable EV car market. Then GM shutters assembly plants.
And now GM and UAW want to extend the subsidy – fronted for media purposes by worker wage demands – but what they really want is another EV cash infusion.
There really is no hostility between GM management, union bosses and union members and the Fed. It’s just another shell game grift.
“half of what GM workers made at a nearby GM plant before it closed in 2019.”
What were UAW workers earning after the plant closed?
And bailed out GM blue-collar unions, on the — er — backs of the white-collar unions.
“They’ll eat you last.” doesn’t mean they won’t eat you eventually.
“ Then GM shutters assembly plants.”
Then, further, GM slaps a Buick or Chevrolet badge on some Chinese or Korean cars.
We’ve reached a point where it takes foreign companies, from BMW to Nissan to Subaru to Stellantis to employ Americans to make cars.
Anyone care to speculate on a timeframe for wgen General Motors runs to Congress for the next bail out?
VW Group, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai/Kia/Genesis …
.
So far everything Biden has done has killed the unions in the USA.
Hey voted for the pedophile, they don’t get to b****
They voted
…
Well, the private sector unions. Has the Biden Administration hurt public employee unions?
The Auto Union is witholding support from Joe Biden because they are going to back Michelle Obama who will soon announce that she is running for president. The reason Susan Rice is resigning from the Biden Administration is to work in Michelle’s campaign.
Kurt Schlichter makes an aside comment about the ‘nightmare’ presidential primary scenario and suddenly it takes form and substance in comments sections across the right-sphere.
Michelle Obama is not running for president. Oprah won’t be Vice President.
We’ll know very soon who is right.
Last week a suspicious tape measure was found on a stool in the white house. After checking the security camera they found it was left by Michelle Obama’s husband who had been going around measuring drapes.
If your prediction comes true – Obama was measuring the drapes to be made into Michelle’s formal inauguration dress.
Something to show off those sexy, svelte, upper arms.
Now rhat was funny. There’s no way I can top that.
IMO Rice is running away from the dumpster fire before she gets burned. Michelle Obama has everything she could want; wealth, travel, public adoration (in lefty circles and by legacy media). Why eff that up by running for President when she can continue to be talked about as a potential candidate and keep all goodwill without doing it? Plus she saw what the job did to her husband. That dude looked like he went through some sort of accelerated aging process compared to other Presidents.
I’m sure, if asked, she would give all the same reasons you give why she’s not going to run. But whatever she says you can bet that the opposite is the truth.
It is as likely she will wear thin. Progressive activist women are like that. Could she deal with the humiliation?
Could she deal with the humiliation? Pride and humiliation are strange bedfellows.
Electrical banana is bound to be the very next phase.
Having worked in manufacturing let me translate.
Starting wage is lower because new workers are in training and qualification so essentially contributing nothing to production. Once qualified, wage goes up and after another period of time, they will get the same wage as longer-term employees. The union feels that new employees should get the same wage as long-term employees.
It’s hard to justify stealing part of their paycheck for union dues when their check is small enough that they actually feel it.
Democrats don’t need union donations. They get millions of micro-donations from people who don’t even know they are donating.
My dead father for one. He has it sent from heaven to the Democrats with the help of some Chinese guy.
They dont really have any negotiating power because it’s not like they would ever look to the GOP for an EV endorsement. They are stuck in the bed they made.
Holy Rollers of the big tent AGW New Religion. A Revival! Fanatics For Fraud. You will never hear the words Separation of Church and State ever again
What gets me is how terrible the Biden administration has treated unions despite all the talk of supporting unions. You look at how badly he sold out the railroad workers’ union, and you have to wonder. Even public unions, he has been paying lip service to. He has fallen on the side of management frequently, and has done nothing to advance workers’ rights. He has even quietly shelved many of the radical labor initiatives from the west coast.
Here’s my view- the move to EV’s by GM and Ford is largely cover to close plants and eliminate highly paid workers. After they’re gone the unprofitable US EV plants can be closed too, and the remaining manufacturing moved completely offshore
Don’t care. Unions helped elect Brandon, live with the consequences.
BTW: if you don’t work for slave wages Brandon has imported 10,000,000 illegals with a few more millions in the wings that will. Getting a clue yet?