WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Friday that staff ought to be fairly compensated as auto corporations make record profits, after the United Auto Employees union began a strike against General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis.
“The businesses have made some significant offers,” Biden said in a speech on the White House. “But I think they need to go further to make sure record corporate profits mean record contracts for the UAW.”
Biden said he’s dispatching acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior advisor Gene Sperling to Detroit to assist mediate negotiations. The pair have been involved with the talks so far, Biden said.
“Auto corporations have seen record profits including the previous few years due to extraordinary skill and sacrifices of the UAW staff,” Biden said. “Those record profits haven’t been shared fairly, in my opinion, with the employees.”
UAW President Shawn Fain pushed back against the president in an announcement released after the remarks.
“We agree with Joe Biden when he says ‘record profits mean record contracts,'” Fain said. “We do not agree when he says negotiations have broken down.”
Nearly 13,000 autoworkers went on strike after contract talks ended Thursday night without an agreement.
Employees are striking at GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio. For Ford, Fain said only staff within the paint and final assembly areas can be on strike.
In an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker set to air Sunday on “Meet the Press,” former President Donald Trump was critical of Fain and what’s ahead for autoworkers, saying that within the near future “those jobs are all going to be gone.”
“Under Trump, autoworkers shuttered their doors and sent American jobs overseas,” Ammar Moussa, spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in an announcement Friday after the president’s remarks. “Under Trump, auto corporations would have likely gone bankrupt, devastating the industry and upending tens of millions of lives.”
The Biden administration has played a job in resolving several recent union disputes, including in talks that resulted in a dockworkers contract ratified Aug. 31 and averting a rail staff strike in December. Unlike the rail staff’ strike, though, Biden doesn’t have legal authority to intervene; as an alternative, he has urged each side to remain on the negotiating table.
The UAW strike places Biden in a troublesome position. He’s branded himself as “probably the most pro-union president in American history,” however the UAW demands are partly a response to his electric vehicle policies, which the union says will cost jobs. Proposed Environmental Protection Agency standards for 2027-2032 call for 67% of latest vehicles to be electric by the top of the timeframe, partly leading to a 56% emissions cut.
The UAW, which represents about 146,000 staff across Ford, GM and Stellantis, has historically supported Democrats and endorsed Biden in 2020, nevertheless it is the one major union that has yet to endorse the president for reelection.
The UAW is asking for 40% hourly pay increases; a reduced, 32-hour, workweek; a shift back to traditional pensions; the elimination of compensation tiers and restoration of cost-of-living adjustments; in addition to other items including enhanced retiree, vacation and family leave advantages.
The businesses made record proposals to handle a few of the UAW’s ambitious demands but they have not been enough to sway the union. Automakers have offered wage increases of roughly 20%, cost-of-living adjustments, altered profit-sharing bonuses, and enhanced vacation and family leave.
