Former President Donald Trump plans to skip tonight’s Republican primary debate (again). He will instead head to Michigan, where, as Scott Waldman writes, a union strike is quickly becoming a frontline in the 2024 battle for the White House — or at least a major talking point for candidates. A quick recap: The United Auto Workers is approaching week three in its strike against Ford, General Motor and Stellantis. Workers are demanding higher wages to compensate for years of employee concessions to management, amid a shift to electric vehicles that threatens to erode UAW jobs. Political battle lines: President Joe Biden, a self-described “union guy,” made a historic trip to the front of the picket line yesterday to support workers. He has pledged to fight climate change by boosting electric vehicles and the U.S. workers who make them. While the climate law’s $370 billion investment in clean energy is fueling a record number of proposed manufacturing and battery facilities, much of that spending is happening in Southern states where a lack of unions likely means lower wages. Plus, the average electric car has fewer parts than the gasoline-powered version and therefore requires fewer workers to assemble. For Republican politicians, the answer is clear: Scrap Biden’s electric vehicle agenda altogether. Most of the GOP presidential candidates have framed Biden’s climate agenda as a recipe for enriching China, which has a bustling EV market and dominates the global supply chain for batteries. Trump claimed that under Biden’s plan, all U.S. electric cars will be made in China. (Fact check: The vast majority of EVs sold in the U.S. are made by American companies, namely Tesla.) Trump called on rank-and-file autoworkers to pressure their leaders into endorsing him instead of Biden to save their jobs. Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016, a feat he hopes to replicate. How do auto workers actually feel?
“Nobody’s happy with Trump, nobody’s happy with Biden,” UAW member Aaron Westaway told David Ferris, Hannah Northey and Mike Lee. “We’ve got a lot of people that are frustrated, just with all of them.” POLITICO’s E&E News reporters visited the picket lines at Big Three auto plants in three states and interviewed almost two dozen workers. Many of the workers interviewed voiced appreciation for Biden’s visit and endorsement of their demands. But they were concerned his EV push will lead to major job losses. Electric cars “don’t need spark plugs, what else, oil filters — we sell a lot of those,” said Whitney Walch, a Stellantis distribution center employee. “If we don’t have all those parts, I feel like we don’t have a lot to do.” UAW President Shuan Fain said if there is going to be a transition to electric vehicles it has to be a “just” one.
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