On Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Sound On,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) stated that it’s “frustrating as a lawmaker when we pass these laws, and then they go to be implemented, around infrastructure, around the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve got union provisions, prevailing wage provisions in there, and then, somehow, they get cut out as the deals go forward.” And that more stringent requirements are needed.
Host Joe Mathieu asked, [relevant exchange begins around 11:10] “I see, Congresswoman, that you’ve reintroduced a bill to protect union workers in federal vehicle contracts. The [Union Auto Workers] Job Protection Act would require federal contract bidders to disclose all plant locations, interestingly, where vehicles will be made, along with some other details. To what extent are the Big Three exposed to federal contracts?”
Stevens responded, “They are somewhat. … This bill came about because of the contract awarded to Oshkosh Defense industries around the Postal Service truck vehicles. They were supposed to be made with union labor, the contract gets awarded, midway through, they decide, well, we don’t have the capacity here, so, we’re going to move this to a non-union shop. We certainly could see something like this pertain to the Big Three. And that would actually be a great day, because they’re unionized shops. I’m really proud of this piece of legislation. I’ve got a lot of co-sponsors. It’s something we should get done. And frankly, it’s very frustrating as a lawmaker when we pass these laws, and then they go to be implemented, around infrastructure, around the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve got union provisions, prevailing wage provisions in there, and then, somehow, they get cut out as the deals go forward. And I do oversight, but we’ve got to take it a step further, which is why I’ve introduced this legislation.”
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