{"id":134576,"date":"2019-03-13T16:39:05","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T20:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=134576"},"modified":"2019-03-13T16:39:05","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T20:39:05","slug":"rise-of-electric-vehicles-is-a-threat-to-jobs-uaw-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2019\/03\/rise-of-electric-vehicles-is-a-threat-to-jobs-uaw-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise of Electric Vehicles is a Threat to Jobs, UAW Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
UAW President Gary Jones told members that new investment was needed by automakers to offset the 35,000 union jobs that could be lost to EVs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The move to electrification could wipe out as many 35,000 jobs in engine and transmission plants operated by the Detroit\u2019s three automakers and their suppliers during the next several years, the UAW suggests.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Kelly, the union\u2019s research director, offered up the observations Wednesday during a sobering presentation to the final day of the UAW\u2019s Special Convention on Collective Bargaining.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Union News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She noted during presentation the auto industry is rapidly changing and electric vehicles are the wave of the future. Automakers, especially General Motors, are charging hard to advance electric vehicle technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cEV powertrains are simple compared to internal combustion engines.\u00a0The simplicity could reduce the amount of labor, and thus jobs, associated with vehicle production,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

(Top UAW bargainer takes aim at General Motors. <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The union, which represents 130,000 hourly workers employed at General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler\u00a0has to prepare for the change by using\u00a0its contracts, which are up for re-negotiation this year,\u00a0to insure the investment flows into plants in where the UAW is present, Kelly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shift is an opportunity to re-invest in U.S. manufacturing,\u201d she added. \u201cThis opportunity will be lost if EV components are imported or made by \u2018low road\u2019 suppliers, who under pay workers,\u201d Kelly noted in a white paper that served as the basis of her presentation.<\/p>\n

Kelly also noted that China and countries in the European Union are moving aggressively to build plants that will produce batteries for electric vehicles in the years to come.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for more about the\u00a0UAW raising strike pay ahead of Big Three negotiations.<\/em><\/strong>)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gary Jones, who took over as the UAW president this past summer, said the negotiations, which open this summer are vital to the union.\u00a0\u201cWe want new investment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built the middle class and new we must re-build it,\u201d he said, adding the as the UAW pushes\u00a0for better wages, more investment in union plants and better working conditions, it cannot count on support from politicians,\u00a0courts or the National Labor Relations\u00a0Board, which has been taken over by right-wing Republicans.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, Jones had sent a not so subtle message to Detroit\u2019s automaker by raising the strike pay for union involved in a labor dispute from to $250 per week from the current $200 per week. The change was effectively immediately and any payments would come from the UAW\u2019s $767 million strike fund.<\/p>\n

(To see more about the UAW\u2019s efforts to reverse GM\u2019s decision to close plants,\u00a0<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can only rely on each other,\u201d said\u00a0Jones who also emphasized the union did not want a strike but was preparing for one if the union negotiating\u00a0teams find it necessary. \u201cNo more sending jobs to Mexico without making a sound,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The move to electrification could wipe out as many 35,000 jobs in engine and transmission plants operated by the Detroit\u2019s three automakers and their suppliers during the next several years, the UAW suggests. GM is particularly aggressive in its development of electric vehicles. Go to TheDetroitBureau.com for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20009,"featured_media":134579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,13,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[150,151,123,309,319,155,299,132,125,291,288,304,141],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134576"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=134576"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=134576"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=134576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}