Fighting climate change and boosting the middle class by supporting unions are two of President Joe Biden’s top priorities, but they are at odds in Michigan, a crucial swing state, as the United Auto Workers go on strike against the nation’s largest automakers.
Less than one-tenth of the union’s entire membership, or 13,000 workers, are currently on strike, but it’s an important test of Biden’s capacity to manage a wide-ranging and contentious political alliance while seeking reelection.
In order to cut greenhouse gas emissions and stop China from tightening its hold on a developing industry, Biden is attempting to jump-start the market for electric automobiles. His most famous piece of legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, provides incentives worth billions of dollars to put more environmentally friendly vehicles on the roads.
Some UAW members worry that the changeover would result in job losses because fewer employees are needed to build electric automobiles. High-capacity battery manufacturing will create new job opportunities, but there is no assurance that those factories will be unionised, and they are frequently being planned in areas that are less friendly to organised labour.
Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, said, “The president is in a really tough position.” “A magic wand is all he needs to be the greenest and most pro-labor president ever.”
The union is increasing the pressure with its planned strike by calling for significant pay increases and improved benefits. Employees at the Ford Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, according to Brittany Eason, who has been there for 11 years, are concerned that they will “be pushed out by computers and electric vehicles.”
Eason, who intended to walk the picket line this weekend, asked, “How do you expect people to work with ease if they’re in fear of losing their jobs?” She suggested that although the use of electric vehicles may be necessary, modifications must be done “so everyone can feel secure about their jobs, their homes, and everything else.”
In remarks from the White House on Friday, Biden acknowledged the issue, adding that the switch to renewable energy “should be fair and a win-win situation for autoworkers and auto companies.”
To expedite the process, Obama sent key aides to Detroit. Obama also pushed management to extend more favourable concessions to the union, saying “they should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts.”
The UAW wants to represent workers at battery plants as part of its demands, which would have an impact on an industry whose supply lines have been drastically altered by technological advancements.
“Batteries are the power trains of the future,” declared Dave Green, a regional director for the union in Ohio and Indiana. “Our employees in the gearbox and engine areas must be able to transition to the new generation.”
However, as their businesses get ready to compete in a global market, executives are determined to keep a lid on labour costs. The majority of electric vehicles and batteries are produced in China.
“The UAW strike and indeed the’summer of strikes’ is the natural result of the Biden administration’s ‘whole of government’ approach to promoting unionisation at all costs,” stated Suzanne Clark, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
