Treasury official confident UAW strike will be averted

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said Monday that the Biden administration is confident a strike will be averted in the ongoing negotiations between the United Auto Workers union and three major American car makers. 

CNN’s Poppy Harlow asked Adeyemo if President Biden still believed a strike would be averted, given the looming 11:59 p.m. Thursday deadline. He said that was still the administration’s view.

“It is the belief of the Biden administration. The auto companies and the unions are working from a position of strength,” Adeyemo said. 

“When I was last in government during the financial crisis, they were in a very different position. Today, they’re talking about how they can distribute profits and earnings in order to make sure that their companies can continue to grow. And we look forward to them reaching a resolution,” Adeyemo added. 

More than 140,000 auto workers have approved a strike if UAW does not agree to new contracts with automakers General Motors, Stellantis and Ford before their current contracts expire Thursday night.

The union has cited the large profits in recent years, as well as CEO pay raises, in seeking a 46 percent across-the-board increase in pay over four years, a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay, restoration of traditional pensions for new hires, union representation of workers at battery plants, restoration of traditional pensions and elimination of wage tiers, The Associated Press reported. 

General Motors last week made its first wage-and-benefit offer to UAW union members, but the offer fell short of the union’s demands. The union also rejected a wage offer from Ford the previous week, taking objection with lump-sum payments as opposed to annual pay raises, the AP reported.