Republican senators are blaming the Biden administration for the United Auto Workers’ strike, attempting to drive a wedge between the union and President Joe Biden’s push for electric vehicles.
About 13,000 workers walked out of all three plants in Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio on Friday after negotiators failed to agree on contracts with the so-called Big Three auto companies: General Motors CO., Ford Motor Co., and Stellantis NV.
UAW ANNOUNCES HISTORIC AUTO STRIKE AFTER NEGOTIATIONS WITH AUTOMAKERS FALTER
The union is demanding a 36% pay bump over the next four years. While the automakers have countered with wage increases ranging from 17.5-20% over the life of a contract, the union isn’t satisfied.
Republican senators said the administration’s push for electric vehicles is at odds with union interests. The UAW is the only major union that has yet to endorse Biden in his reelection campaign.
The UAW has yet to endorse Biden, the only major union not to do so, amid concerns about being left out of the electric vehicle transition. The union has voiced frustration about how the switch to electric vehicles, which have fewer parts than gas-powered ones, will impact traditional autoworkers.
“This strike is the latest example of the folly of pursuing policy on the sake of ideology, as opposed to a clear understanding of the consequences of those decisions,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in a statement. “ Pushing to electric vehicles when the United States does not have the critical minerals, when it makes us vulnerable to Chinese supply chain, and when the UAW is now calling a strike, will endanger our economy.”
“The parties must resolve their differences and bargain in good faith towards an agreement that benefits all. It is imperative the White House push for a quick resolution to avert deepening this crisis,” Cassidy added.
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), who represents a state with a large union population, said he supports UAW workers’ fight for better pay, but also said President Biden is to blame. After Biden sent acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and senior aide Gene Sperling to Detroit to help resolve the strike by unionized auto workers, Vance sent a letter Friday to Sperling claiming his involvement in the negotiations warrants “further scrutiny,” now that talks have fallen apart.
“The negotiations have so far failed to address the existential threat posed by the premature transition to EVs,” Vance writes in the letter. “Electric vehicles and batteries are far less labor-intensive than typical automobiles and have supply chains that run through China.”
“Conservative estimates show that the rapid transition to EVs could cost nearly a half million auto workers' jobs,” Vance added.
Biden, who has proclaimed himself as one of the “most pro-union presidents,” rejected claims that clean energy goes against union interests.
“As we transition to a clean energy future, which are in the process of doing. I believe that transition should be fair, and a win-win for auto workers and auto companies,” Biden said on Friday.
Vance also accused the White House of influencing UAW workers to strike in red states like Ohio and Missouri.
“Only one strike affects Michigan, where the bulk of UAW members live and work. This pattern seems hardly coincidental,” Vance said, suggesting that additional strikes in Michigan “could be costly” to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, one of Biden’s key allies.
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The United States Chamber of Commerce also placed the blame on Biden directly for the UAW strike on Friday.
“The UAW strike and indeed the ‘summer of strikes’ is the natural result of the Biden administration’s ‘whole of government’ approach to promoting unionization at all costs,” Suzanne P. Clark, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.