One of the more hot button topics pertaining to Detroit’s big three automakers and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union over the past several months has been the prospect of unionizing future electric vehicle and EV battery plants, with the UAW fighting to do precisely that. On the automaker side of the coin, Ford has long maintained that it will leave that decision up to its workers, though its cross-town rival, General Motors, agreed to place battery plants under the GM-UAW master agreement reached last fall. Now, workers at one such GM plant have successful completed that process.
According to GM Authority, workers at the Ultium Cells battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee have successfully unionized after a majority of the 1,000 employees at the facility signed cards authorizing that move. The plant is operated by Ultium Cells LLC, which is a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution. Production at this particular facility began earlier this year and is the second plant operated by Ultium Cells, along with the Lordstown, Ohio location that began producing batteries in 2022.
“By 2027, the pay for Ultium Lordstown workers will be more than double what it was when the plant opened,” the UAW said in a statement. “The Ultium contract in Lordstown sets a powerful precedent for Spring Hill and for the tens of thousands of new battery jobs that will be coming online soon across the South, including at Ford’s Blue Oval plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.”
Interestingly, in spite of those comments, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear recently stated that “when the Ford SK plants open, that won’t be union labor because of the agreement reached between Ford and the UAW, between CEO Farley and [UAW President] Shawn Fain,” which seems to contradict the union’s statement. However, it’s unclear if Beshear is talking about the new master contract reached between Ford and the UAW last fall, or another possible agreement that may have been reached by Ford and the UAW after those talks had ended.
Comments
Well, that won’t help competition with the Chinese. Just what the EV market needs—another impediment to U.S. adoption.
Someone pays for this and the retail price of vehicles will again increase. One executive pegged the latest UAW contract as an increase of $900 per vehicle. Not sure how EV are going to compete with low cost China produced ones.