President Joe Biden has reportedly called for United Auto Union Workers and Detroit’s Big Three automakers to reach an agreement on a new contract before the current one expires next month, according to Reuters. Hopefully, it goes better than the last time Biden weighed into a possible strike situation. At the end of last year, Biden got Congress to force railway workers to accept a contract proposed by rail executives.
“I’m asking all sides to work together for a fair agreement,” Biden reportedly said in a statement. “The UAW helped create the American middle class and as we move forward in this transition to new technologies, the UAW deserves a contract that sustains the middle class.”
Reuters reports that UAW President Shawn Fain briefed the President on where the contract talks were a month ago. He also met with members of Congress as the union attempts to get higher wages and better benefits out of automakers.
Biden and the UAW don’t exactly have a tight-knit relationship. In the past, Fain has reportedly criticized some of the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies, and the union has not officially endorsed Biden’s re-election bid. Biden has also made addressing climate change a key part of his agenda, saying he supported a “fair transition to a clean-energy future.”
Reuters reports that the UAW represents about 150,000 U.S.-based hourly workers at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. The union has not ruled out striking if they do not come to a contract agreement with automakers by the September 14th deadline.
In November of 2022, we reported that the Biden administration graciously offered rail workers one entire day of sick time to bridge the gap between workers and rail executives, but it wasn’t enough. Then things got less worker-friendly. Video asked Congress to override the workers’ votes and force the single-sick-day contract on them. It was a very — let’s say — not-pro-labor move. Biden blamed the fact that a rail shutdown would “devastate” the U.S. economy, which is sort of the point. I suppose time will tell if similar moves get pulled out before the September 14th UAW contract deadline.
