The UAW Auto Strikes were helped by the help of Musk and a tech company

Trade-Offs between Automakers and Unions during the Transition to Electric Vehicles: The Case of Musk’s Non-Unionized EV Company

On Tuesday, a caravan of big rig trucks roared into Sacramento as the Teamsters union rallied support for a bill banning driverless trucks in California. Far away in the US industrial heartlands, autoworkers picketed outside Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis for better pay and job security as the industry transitions to electric vehicles. Despite the opposition of city leaders and unions, the new fleets of robotaxis tootled around in San Francisco collecting fares.

The new assembly plants that the legacy automakers need to pull off the transition have been stood up mostly in US states hostile to union organizing, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. And because many of these plants are joint ventures between automakers and foreign battery companies, they are not subject to previous union contracts.

Concerns have also mounted about job losses after Ford’s CEO estimated that EVs would require 40 percent less human labor, although the true number remains a subject of debate. The UAW is seeking job security provisions to protect members during the transition, such as the right to strike over plant closures and compensation if a factory shuts down.

The rise ofTesla has put more pressure on legacy automakers to cut costs. Including benefits, Musk’s non-unionized EV company spends $45 per hour on labor, significantly less than the $63 per hour spent in the Big Three, according to industry analysts.

The roots of the Silicon Valley region helped the company to see the car as a platform that can be modified via over-the-air updates. And the company aims to automate more of its factories, and extract more of the materials it needs to build its batteries itself.

The Midwest Auto Workers’ Strike as a “Stop Down” Strike: Why UAW Can’t Walk Down on the Picket Line

The companies have failed to present wage offers the union sees as adequate, though they had already put generous offers on the table. The UAW is pushing for a 40% wage increase over the length of the contract.

The president is expected to announce at 10 a.m. which plants will be part of the group that walked off the job last week.

Roughly 13,000 workers at three Midwest auto plants — a General Motors assembly plant in Wentzville, Mo., a Stellantis assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio, and part of a Ford plant in Wayne, Mich. — are currently on the picket line.

If we don’t make serious progress by midday on Friday, September 22nd, more locals will be asked to join the strike, according to a video that was posted to Facebook Monday night.

While the UAW will walk off their jobs at one time, Fain’s “stand up” strike strategy is meant to keep Ford, Generalmdash; and other companies from walking out at the same time.

The ongoing UAW strikes resulted in GM temporarily laying off most of the unionized workers at its Fairfax plant in Kansas. The other two companies have also made short term layoffs.

The two sides are at odds over a host of economic issues, including cost of living adjustments and the restoration of pension and retiree health care. The UAW says it wants to make up for concessions that propped up the automakers during the 2008 financial crisis — the effects of which workers still feel to this day.

“We haven’t had a raise in years, a real raise,” said Gil Ramsey, a Ford employee who’s on strike in Wayne, Mich. “And everything that we gave up when the company was down on the ropes — we haven’t even got that back yet.”

The internal engine was the power behind it. Electrics and automation are rearranging the way stuff and people are moved around. Transporters aren’t happy with how it’s going.

“When you have an introduction of new technology into a mature industry, there are opportunities where it can be used by employers to undermine strong collective bargaining contracts,” says Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, a coalition of 37 transportation unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the US’s largest labor federation.

Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis have all launched joint ventures with South Korean electronics companies to make battery components for EVs. The plants aren’t covered under the UAW’s existing contracts, and the union says workers risk exposure to dangerous chemicals and receive unfairly low pay.

The employees of the unions are worried about the loss of jobs. Truck driving is the most common job in 29 states, says Peter Finn, a vice president for the union’s western region. “This is going to have a dramatic and potentially disastrous impact on jobs, on communities, and on the economy.” Assembly bill 316 would require the presence of a human safety driver in all automated vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds and was the focus of a caravan to Sacramento on Tuesday. That would include even standard UPS or Fedex delivery trucks. According to one survey, the bill was passed in both the Assembly and Senate with more than 90 percent support, but the office of the Mayor has indicated he may veto it, arguing that it could stifle innovation.