"Standoff Over Electric Vehicle Workers Poses Risk for Biden"

"A looming auto industry strike could test the president’s commitment to making electric vehicles a source of well-paying union jobs."

"President Biden has been highly attuned to the politics of electric vehicles, helping to enact billions in subsidies to create new manufacturing jobs and going out of his way to court the United Automobile Workers union.

But as the union and the big U.S. automakers — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, Jeep and Ram — hurtle toward a strike deadline set for Thursday night, the political challenge posed by the industry’s transition to electric cars may be only beginning.

The union, under its new president, Shawn Fain, wants workers who make electric vehicle components like batteries to benefit from the better pay and labor standards that the roughly 150,000 U.A.W. members enjoy at the three automakers. Most battery plants are not unionized.

The Detroit automakers counter that these workers are typically employed in joint ventures with foreign manufacturers that the U.S. automakers don’t wholly control."

Noam Scheiber reports for the New York Times September 13, 2023.

SEE ALSO:

"The U.A.W. Could Go on Strike on Friday. Here’s What to Know." (New York Times)

"Trump Hammers Biden On Electric Cars With An Eye On Michigan" (The Hill)

 

Source: NYTimes, 09/14/2023