The UAW isn’t ready to make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential election in what appears to be an effort to push for commitments from the Biden administration on concerns about electric vehicles and other issues, according to a letter this week from union President Shawn Fain.
The letter to members, dated Tuesday, noted that President Joe Biden announced his reelection campaign on April 25, and that other national unions were “quick to endorse,” but that the United Auto Workers is “not yet making an endorsement.” The letter provided “talking points” on the campaign and to all elected officials.
Those talking points cover numerous topics, including upcoming contract talks with Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Jeep- and Chrysler-parent Stellantis as well as the EV transition and the impact of another Donald Trump presidency.
On contract talks, the letter noted that “in September, 150,000 auto workers will be fighting for a new contract with the Big Three companies, who are making record profits while workers get left behind. We’ll stand with whoever stands with our members in that fight.”
More:Fain calls for better battery plant wages, criticizes Stellantis CEO
On EVs, the union said “the federal government is pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers. The EV transition is at serious risk of becoming a race to the bottom. We want to see national leadership have our back on this before we make any commitments.”
The letter also weighed in on the reelection bid by former President Trump, noting that “another Donald Trump presidency would be a disaster. But our members need to see an alternative that delivers real results. We need to get our members organized behind a pro-worker, pro-climate, and pro-democracy political program that can deliver for the working class.”
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The union, under then-President Rory Gamble, endorsed Biden in 2020. Biden has generally earned solid praise from pro-union voices during his tenure, although the administration’s efforts to avert a rail strike last year drew criticism.
A request for comment was sent to a White House spokesman.
The letter, which was reported earlier by The Detroit News, said that union leaders and staff had met with members of the Biden administration and Congress last week.
“In Washington, I explained to Congress and the White House how plant closures and idlings, like at Ford’s Romeo Engine Plant, Stellantis’s Belvidere Assembly Plant, and GM’s Lordstown Assembly, turn our members’ lives upside down, forcing workers to choose to take a buyout, retire, or transfer, uprooting their families and communities,” the letter said.
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The letter referenced how the transition is affecting worker pay, highlighting a General Motors EV battery joint venture in Lordstown, Ohio, where the automaker once produced the Chevrolet Cruze before shuttering its assembly plant there in 2019.
“At Ultium in Lordstown, Ohio, a joint venture formed by GM, the company is currently hiring employees at $16.50 an hour, with a seven-year progression to $20. Our message to the representatives and the Biden administration was that this is not a just transition. This is not an acceptable standard to set. These workers should not be getting paid half of what Lordstown Assembly workers made just a few years ago,” the letter said. “EV jobs are often dangerous, and require years of training; if anything, they should be paid higher than production wages.”
In other UAW news: The union announced Thursday that “hundreds of workers at the Yanfeng USA Riverside Facility outside Kansas City, Missouri, have voted to join UAW Local 710.” The union noted that the facility supplies parts to GM’s Fairfax Assembly Plant.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.