About 13,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) members went on strike at midnight after the union and the “Big three” automakers — General Motors, Stellantis and Ford — could not reach an agreement.
The EV issue is “the backdrop to everything,” said Marick Masters, a professor of business at Wayne State University, “in terms of what the companies can afford to give the unions in this contract, in terms of where the union needs to go in organizing autoworkers in the future.”
In particular, Masters explained that Tesla’s status as both a non-union company and the largest U.S. EV manufacturer is an elephant in the room for union auto workers.
“It’s something they’re very concerned about, what the overall effect might be in depressing wages in the industry,” he added.
The situation puts President Biden and the Democrats on a tightrope walk, as the party looks to balance support for labor with combatting climate change.
In the upcoming presidential election, both Biden and former President Trump are looking to court union workers’ votes, especially since Michigan is a major swing state.
Read more this weekend, when a full story will go live at TheHill.com.
