On Tuesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) discussed a potential UAW strike and said, “We passed laws to ensure this transition to electric vehicles, zero emissions for the auto industry. We’ve got to make sure that workers have a piece of that profit and the transition that justifies the dignity of their work.” And that while companies are taking advantage of the laws, workers have to be dealt in.
Stevens said, “I was at the table during the U.S. auto rescue period. … The UAW and the automakers made incredible concessions, but it’s just the UAW that has been beholden to those concessions while the auto companies have made billions in profit. And, Joe, what we want to see is, deal workers in. We passed laws to ensure this transition to electric vehicles, zero emissions for the auto industry. We’ve got to make sure that workers have a piece of that profit and the transition that justifies the dignity of their work.”
Co-host Annmarie Hordern then asked, “How difficult of a position is this for the Biden administration, given the fact that we’ve heard [UAW President] Shawn Fain complain a lot about the move to EVs from this administration, which has given out subsidies and grants to these companies to build battery plants and the [like]?”
Stevens answered, “I don’t think Mr. Fain is complaining, I think he’s pointing out a reality, which is, Congress can the pass laws, the president can sign them, and the companies are certainly taking advantage of them, but the negotiations that are taking place have got to deal workers in.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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