Ray Curry said union representation at battery factories is critical as major automakers stake their futures on the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. “It’s going to be the key to unlocking this type of new technology,” Curry told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday, on the eve of the 372,000-member convention in Detroit this week. “It all depends on what happens from this negotiation.” General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have announced plans to build seven U.S. plants in joint ventures with battery makers — Stellantis is to build one in Canada in Windsor, Ont. The factories are expected to employ thousands and supply power for electric vehicles that automakers say will account for half of their U.S. sales by 2030. EVs now make up only about 5 percent of the market. In March, Ontario Premier Doug Ford along with federal and municipal officials announced that Windsor will house an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant, a joint venture project between Stellantis and LG Energy Solution. (Mike Evans/CBC) During the multi-year transition from internal combustion engines to electric power, Curry said, thousands of workers now making engines and transmissions will need jobs. He said those workers should receive top assembly-line wages, now about US$32 an hour, without losing jobs to changing technology. Any decision on union representation will be part of contract talks that begin next summer with the three automakers. Sam Abuelsamid, a research analyst at Guidehouse Insights, agreed that as gasoline vehicle sales decline and battery plants become one of the industry’s few job growth areas, the UAW will need to organize those plants to preserve jobs. Fewer workers, he noted, will be required to build electric vehicles, which are much simpler to produce than vehicles with an internal combustion engine. “They’re going to lose a lot of members, especially from power plants and some other component plants, and also possibly from assembly plants,” Abuelsamid said of the union. Complicating matters is that because the plants are joint ventures between automakers and battery makers, the two companies may differ on union representation. GM, which will open the first of its battery plants this summer in Lordstown, Ohio, said it would support UAW representation. A worker installs EV batteries inside the battery shop at VinFast’s electric car factory in Haiphong on April 7. The union representing U.S. auto workers wants to see those working in newly built U.S. factories receive wages similar to those in internal combustion engine and traditional manufacturing plants. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images) The issue of EV jobs is so important to the UAW’s future that some industry analysts are predicting strikes against the automakers once the contracts expire in September 2023. Because the automakers want costs to be competitive with non-union battery plants, strikes, if they occur, could run long. Any decision to strike would be up to UAW members, Curry said. The union, he said, could reach an agreement with one automaker “and then all the others will line up.” Curry argued that labor costs are only a small part of total battery costs, and paying union wages would still leave the new plants competitive with non-union battery plants. With inflation at a 40-year high, the union will seek to restore cost-of-living increases that were suspended after the 2008-2009 Great Recession hit the auto industry. “You can’t, over the course of a four-year deal, not have increased wages and not maintain your purchasing power,” Curry said. When UAW workers at John Deere won cost-of-living raises last year after a month-long strike, Curry said, it raised interest among workers in the auto industry and other industries. The union is also trying to organize workers at factories in the south run by automakers based in other countries. Curry said he is looking at electric vehicle startups and is still trying to organize Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California. He said the UAW has recruiters at many of the sites, including Nissan and Volkswagen plants whose workers have narrowly rejected union representation in recent years. Curry declined to say where the first vote might take place.
UAW holds election after scandal
At this week’s convention, delegates will nominate candidates for all of the union’s top offices, up for election this fall. In the past, delegates to the quadrennial convention elected the officers. But last year, members voted for snap elections after a bribery and embezzlement scandal sent two former UAW presidents and other union officials to prison. Kerry, appointed last year to replace an outgoing president, has said he will run and face opposition. To avoid a federal takeover after the scandal, the union agreed to financial reforms and a court-appointed supervisor to oversee its operations. Last week, the monitor, Neil Barofsky, accused UAW leaders of covering up an official’s misconduct and failing to put proper financial controls in place. The union’s conduct interfered with the monitor’s ability to do his job, Barowski wrote. His claims have raised questions about whether the union has reformed as it has announced. Barowski wrote that he has sent two cases to the U.S. attorney in Detroit for investigation. Curry acknowledged that Barowski should have been told of the misconduct earlier and said the union has hired a new top lawyer. Also, she noted, her outside law firm no longer deals with the screen. He said the union tried to repair its relationship with Barowski and blamed, in part, miscommunication. “What we’ve asked him now is if there’s something that’s not right, that doesn’t fit and you have a question about it, advise us because we wouldn’t want to hear it six months later as part of a report.” Barowski also argued that the association lacks controls that require budgets for internal conferences. Nor does it have spending limits on drinks, dinners and other line items. Curry said those safeguards are coming, arguing that it takes time to adopt all the reforms while the union manages contract talks, organizing and other issues. “All these things cannot happen overnight,” he said. “But I can assure you that we are working to make sure that they happen.”
