“I’m asking all sides to work together to forge a fair agreement,” Mr. Biden said in a statement that was more tepid than previous support of workers threatening to strike.
The Ultium Cells plant in Lordstown, Ohio, which is operated through a joint venture between GM and LG Energy, pays workers a starting salary of $16.50 per hour. In 2019, when GM ended car assembly at that factor, workers were earning $32.50, according to data from the UAW. UAW President Sean Fain is urging the Biden administration to amend federal incentives for electric vehicle manufacturing included in Mr. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act and other federal legislation.In his statement Monday, Mr. Biden urged the automakers to keep making the electric vehicles, but he also called on them to pay workers what they see as a fair wage.
“The UAW helped create the American middle class and as we move forward in this transition to new technologies, the UAW deserves a contract that sustains the middle class,” Mr. Biden said.