GM to Support Union at New Battery Factories
General Motors as announced that it will support efforts by the United Auto Workers union (UAW) to organize employees at two U.S. electric vehicle battery factories that are being built in Ohio and Tennessee. Previously, General Motors had taken the stance that Ultium LLC would decide on a bargaining strategy. However, the decision falls into line with President Joe Biden’s promise to create good-paying union jobs in the transition from combustion vehicles to electric. The decision also comes after the UAW has made strong statements that Detroit-based GM and crosstown rival Ford have a moral obligation to pay top union wages at joint-venture battery plants. Experts say the union’s future could be imperiled if it can’t represent workers at the plants and get a top UAW wage of about $31 per hour. Those jobs will replace work that will be lost at combustion-engine and transmission factories.
See "GM to Support Union at New Battery Factories", Tom Krisher, Detroit Free Press, May 26, 2021