President Joe Biden met briefly with a top auto union chief Wednesday, a White House official tells CNN, as talks between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three US automakers continue ahead of a potentially damaging strike.
UAW leadership was at the White House for a meeting to brief senior staff on their positions Wednesday in the West Wing. Biden got wind of the meeting and asked to meet directly with the union's president, Shawn Fain, who has previously called out the administration on its support for electric vehicles.
The three contracts between the UAW and General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis are due to expire September 14, and a strike could have massive economic -- and political -- consequences. But all three automakers have separate contracts and it isn't necessarily likely that all three would face a strike at the same time. Typically, the union strikes only one or at most two automakers during each contract round, if any at all.
It comes as the Teamsters union has asked the White House not to get involved in its negotiations with UPS ahead of a looming strike deadline later this month. Taken together, the strikes pose a new threat to the economy as Biden seeks to highlight job growth, rising wages and easing fears of a recession.
Fain has publicly warned that UAW is prepared to strike, saying nearly 150,000 members will strike if the three automakers do not meet their demands.
Little progress has been made since the talks between the Big Three and the UAW began last Thursday, with Fain making his position clear in a Facebook address to UAW members: "If the Big Three don't give us our fair share, then they're choosing to strike themselves, and we're not afraid to take action," Fain said. Fain also declined to participate in a public handshake ceremony with the Big Three, marking a break in tradition.
In a sign of how seriously the administration is taking the possibility of an auto strike, Biden tapped a longtime, trusted adviser, Gene Sperling, to serve as the administration's point person in the negotiations, coordinating closely with acting Labor Secretary Julie Su.
While Biden has called himself "the most pro-union president" and has received 2024 endorsements from a wide range of high-profile unions, the UAW has so far held off on endorsing his reelection bid over tensions surrounding the administration's support of electric vehicle production. The UAW has not been pleased by the Biden administration's financial support of the industry's planned transition to EV production in the future. Many of the jobs building EV batteries pay a fraction of what union-represented jobs at Big Three engine plants now pay. An EV has far fewer moving parts than a traditional gasoline-powered car or truck, and requires an estimated one-third fewer hours of labor to build, according to automakers.
If there is a strike, the union's opposition to the government support for the transition to EVs, and the possible negative effect it could have on jobs, could stir up a political issue for Biden in the electoral battleground state of Michigan. Former President Donald Trump has already been denouncing the shift to EV in campaign stops in the state.