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.
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