Biden touts EV funding encouraging better-paying jobs with UAW strike looming
UAW president Shawn Fain full speech from practice picket in Louisville
UAW President Shawn Fain joined the practice picket in Louisville on Chamberlain Lane.
Scott Utterback, Louisville Courier Journal
With a potential auto strike looming, the Biden administration on Thursday announced it was moving to make $12 billion available to ease the transition to electric vehicles and encourage the creation of higher-paying union jobs in the same breath.
“Building a clean energy economy can and should provide a win-win opportunity for auto companies and unionized workers,” President Joe Biden said in a prepared statement after the announcement by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “This funding will help existing workers keep their jobs and have the first shot to fill new good jobs as the car industry transforms for future generations.”
The funding — $2 billion in grants to convert existing manufacturing facilities and $10 billion in loans to do much the same — was included in legislation, including the so-called Inflation Reduction Act and a big infrastructure spending package, Biden got Congress to pass in recent years.
But in rolling out some more specific amounts available in the relatively near future and underscoring the fact that projects associated with retaining or attracting higher-paying jobs could get a leg up in receiving awards, the Biden administration is also trying to send a message to rank-and-file UAW workers that it is trying to help ensure that they are not undermined as auto companies move to making more electric vehicles, or EVs.
Generally speaking, EVs require fewer workers to assemble than vehicles with internal combustion engines, and UAW President Shawn Fain has demanded that auto companies take steps to protect union workers. In June, Fain blasted the Biden administration for giving conditional approval for a loan to a venture between Ford Motor and a South Korean battery maker without requiring wage and work conditions upfront.
Biden and Fain met briefly at the White House this summer. This month, Biden asked all sides to work toward a “fair contract” that both transitions to more climate-friendly EVs and “ensuring that Big Three auto jobs are good jobs that can support a family” and avoid plant closings.
UAW officials have said membership at the Detroit automakers has overwhelmingly approved a strike, beginning when the current contract ends Sept. 14, if necessary.
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In announcing the funding Thursday, the Energy Department noted that under the grant program, “higher scores will be given to projects that are likely to retain collective bargaining agreements and/or those that have an existing high-quality, high-wage hourly production workforce.” The loan program, meanwhile, is specifically aimed at “automotive manufacturing conversion projects that retain high-quality jobs in communities that currently host manufacturing facilities” and include those “retaining high wages and benefits… workplace rights, or commitments such as keeping the existing facility open until a new facility is complete.”
Granholm, Michigan’s former governor, also said the Energy Department in the future intends to invest another $3.5 billion in advanced battery production under funding provided by the infrastructure bill and that investment is expected to “support communities with experienced auto workers and a history of producing vehicles, applicants with strong workforce practices, and applicants who plan to create high-quality jobs.”
Fain responded to the Biden administration’s announcement, saying, “The UAW supports and is ready for the transition to a clean auto industry. But the EV transition must be a just transition that ensures auto workers have a place in the new economy. Today’s announcement from the Department of Energy echoes the UAW’s call for strong labor standards tied to all taxpayer funding that goes to auto and manufacturing companies.”
“We are glad to see the Biden administration doing its part to reject the false choice between a good job and a green job,” he said.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.