Newly-elected United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain’s message to Detroit auto executives is clear: Workers cannot be left behind in the industry’s accelerating transition to electric vehicles.
Fain, who took office last month following the union’s first-ever direct elections of top leaders, reiterated that message Friday during a virtual Automotive Press Association event during which he answered questions from journalists.
During the hour-long Q&A, Fain argued that battery plant workers should actually make higher wages than the industry standard for traditional production jobs; castigated Stellantis NV for its move to idle its Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois; and said it would be up to the Detroit automakers whether they will face a UAW strike during a crucial set of contract negotiations that start later this year. He also criticized the industry’s move toward joint-venture battery plant operations, and argued that legacy manufacturing workers should be able to move into the EV and battery jobs of the future.
“I want to work with the companies. I want to have a good relationship,” Fain said. “But if they’re not going to treat our members with respect and give them their due, then we’re going to have issues.”
Battery manufacturing jobs
Auto companies have announced more than $128 billion in investments in EV plants, battery factories and battery recycling, NPR reported in December. This spending blitz is being fueled by billions of dollars in federal subsidies included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which looks to incentivize domestic production of EVs and their parts, and to spur higher consumer adoption of plug-in vehicles.
Fain on Friday argued that autoworkers should share in the benefits of this manufacturing boom, especially because of the scale of taxpayer-funded support the industry is receiving.
“The taxpayers are investing a lot of money into this transition,” he said. “A lot of that investment is not going into the workers; the money is going into the corporate coffers. So there’s got to be a balance there.”
Fain expressed disappointment with the move by the Detroit automakers to form joint ventures with battery makers, a structure he acknowledged is partly based on the companies’ technology needs — but one he believes is also partly designed to cut out union workers.
He directed ire at his former employer, Stellantis NV, for their decision to establish a JV battery plant with Samsung SDI in his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana, a move he claimed UAW leaders did not become aware of until the day before the announcement. He also called the wage scale at the first General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution JV Ultium Cells LLC plant in northeast Ohio “unacceptable.” Battery cell production is underway there, and workers voted in December for UAW representation.
Production associates make $16.50 per hour, which is about half of what GM employees covered by the national UAW contract make (GM workers will make $32.32 per hour by next September). Employees at the Warren, Ohio, plant told The Detroit News they were hoping to achieve wage increases and better safety standards with UAW representation. Negotiations between the UAW and Ultium kicked off earlier this year. On Friday, Fain said the talks were still in their early stages.
“Ultium Cells is committed to the collective bargaining process, and will work in good faith with the UAW to reach a competitive agreement that positions our employees and our Ohio battery cell manufacturing facility for success,” Ultium spokesperson Brooke Waid said in a statement.
Fain argued that battery manufacturing workers actually should make higher wages than the current standard for production employees because of the specialized skills and training that type of work requires.
“These people have to go through almost two years of training to be good at this. So these should be higher wages than our production standards, not lower,” he said. “That kind of scale is setting our members back 10 or 15 years.”
Talking to Detroit 3 execs
Fain revealed that he has met with leaders at General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV. He described the conversations as “respectful” but said he clearly expressed his stance that the status quo is unacceptable, and characterized a discussion with Stellantis executives last week as “stern.”
“The bottom line in all of this, is to make a very clear message, especially to Stellantis with a plant closing going on right now and also all three companies with the shift to EV, that we expect our members to not get lost in the shuffle throughout this,” said Fain. “And we expect these jobs in this transition to be good-paying jobs that raise people up, not take us back.”
He described the UAW’s current relationship with Stellantis as “fractured,” pointing to the Belvidere situation and comments CEO Carlos Tavares has made about absenteeism in plants.
“When the CEO of the company can fly over here and go to our plants and threaten our members about future product and absenteeism, but can’t take the time to reach out to us and have a discussion with us, that’s a problem,” he said. “And meanwhile we have language, plant closing moratoriums, plant idling moratoriums, in our contracts. And this is a flat-out, black-and-white violation, what they’re doing right now. When they take action like that that hurts our members, things aren’t going to be good. That’s as blunt as I can be about it, and I have been with all three.”
Stellantis declined to comment on Fain’s remarks.
Fain’s tenure as president kicked off just months before contract negotiations with the Detroit automakers are slated to begin ahead of September, when the current four-year agreements expire. He declined to get into specific strategies the UAW may have in the works, such as identifying a lead company to bargain with, and indicated leaders still are formulating plans ahead of a national contract campaign. But priorities include job security provisions, doing away with tiered wage systems, and securing members’ role in the auto industry’s transition to EVs.
Asked about the likelihood of a strike, he said: “I’ll leave it up to the companies. I’ve been very clear to them: Our members expect their fair share, and if they don’t get it, then we’re going to do what we have to do.”
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JGrzelewski
Staff Writer Kalea Hall contributed.