UAW Leadership Was Taken for A Ride by Biden-Harris Politicos and Members Are Now Paying the Price

Ford Motor Company has essentially thrown in the towel on the F-150 Lightning, which was an abysmal failure. Hundreds of UAW members who work at Ford have been laid off and others have lost bonuses expected from Lightning sales that never materialized. Ford has lost several billion dollars that could have been used far more productively on behalf of investors and UAW members.

How did this debacle happen? It appears Ford and the UAW leadership were both taken for a ride by a Biden-Harris Administration that proposed forcing EVs on a public that never asked for them. It never made much sense but both the UAW and Ford were suckered into signing onto the plan by promises of indirect subsidies via mandates on dealers and the like. But, while it was possible to push the Lightnings out the door and into car lots, that never translated into actual sales.

The degree to which the UAW leadership bought into the foolhardy scam in kneejerk fashion, even after is revealed by a Common Dreams article from August of last year regarding the electric battery plants that were to accompany Big Three automaker EV adventures (emphasis added):

The president of the United Auto Workers on Tuesday called on U.S. President Joe Biden to use his position of power to help ensure a just transition to electric vehicles—pushing for a major investment in green technology that would also guarantee that workers in the U.S. can earn a decent living in the evolving auto industry.

Biden's actions on the electric vehicle (EV) front, Shawn Fain toldThe Guardian, have been "disappointing."

White House photo of Shawn Fein

It has been a year since the president signed his signature climate and jobs law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes incentives for car companies to ramp up manufacturing of EVs and for consumers to purchase them.

The law has paved the way for the "Big Three" automakers—Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors (GM)—to build EV battery plants in joint ventures with companies such as Samsung, SK On, and LG Energy Solution, but the federal incentives and loans have been given to the firms without the guarantee of fair pay and working conditions for the people who will work in the plants.

"We have to make sure endorsements are earned and not freely given. Politicians have to prove they are in the fight with us, which is the only way to win back the working class in the Midwest. We don't have to endorse anyone at all."

…If Biden hands out incentives and subsidies to automakers who pay "poverty wages," like Fain has accused one joint venture plant built by GM and LG Energy Solutions of doing, the president will miss "our generation's defining moment with electric vehicles," the UAW president said.

"If the IRA continues to bring sweatshops and a continued race to the bottom it will be a tragedy,” Fain told The Guardian. "The government should invest in U.S. manufacturing but money can't go to companies with no strings attached. Labor needs a seat at the table. There should be labor standards built in, this is the future of the car industry at stake."

"You have workers at Ultium on $16.50 an hour, which is less than what you'd get working for Waffle House," he added, referring to the GM joint venture plant in Lordstown, Ohio. "It's criminal."

Well, yes, it was criminal, rhetorically speaking, but who did UAW President Shawn Fein endorse for President? Here’s the answer from the UAW itself:

On Wednesday, July 31, the UAW International Executive Board voted to endorse Kamala Harris for President of the United States. Her historic candidacy builds on the Biden-Harris administration’s proven track record of standing with the UAW and delivering major gains for the working class…  

“Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed. This campaign is bringing together people from all walks of life, building a movement that can defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. For our one million active and retired members, the choice is clear: We will elect Kamala Harris to be our next President this November.” 

How does one reconcile these statements? The answer is that no one can. Shawn Fein is clearly more interested, at the end of the day, in the socialism climate change politics will deliver than his UAW members. The rest of the story, well known at this point, is that a majority of those members stand with Trump, not Kamala. They know the EV obsession their leader expressed has only led to China setting the table to eat their lunch. It wants to so by proposing a factory in Mexico that will avoid tariffs and steal what few EV sales there are by flooding the US market with cheap subsidized cars produced by non-union Mexican workers. UAW members understand this. Shawn Fein doesn’t want to understand it.

The UAW, like almost every other Western institution, has been corrupted. Climate change is the corrupting agent in this case. But, UAW members aren’t going to follow their leadership. They’re running like lightning, if you will, in the opposite direction, in fact, and that’s where any hope for America resides.

#Ford #Lightning #EVs #Batteries #Wages #UAW