As the unprecedented strike by the United Auto Workers nears the one-month mark, it’s become clear the battle isn’t just about wages, benefits and sacrifices workers made to keep US automakers afloat during the financial crisis. What’s also at stake is who will suffer the most pain as America transitions from gasoline-powered to electric vehicles.
In the Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary Detroit’s Electric Reckoning, we take the measure of the US auto industry at this critical moment, as well as the tough choices faced by President Joe Biden, who must balance the need for good-paying jobs right now with the existential fight against climate change. UAW President Shawn Fain fears a future of fewer jobs as complex combustion engines are replaced by more simple electric power trains. For General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler-parent Stellantis NV, higher-cost EVs require lower expenses—and thus fewer workers. The UAW seeks a “just transition.” Carmakers worry they’ll lose out to non-union domestic rivals.
Ever since the UAW granted GM and Chrysler huge concessions during their government-funded bankruptcies 14 years ago, real wages for hourly auto workers have declined. Meanwhile, the Big Three have raked in billions of dollars in profit. But the companies warn the good times are almost over, as they look for a way to compete with China, which controls much of the world’s battery production and is the largest EV market.
With 2024 approaching, the labor standoff has become an issue in the presidential campaign. Last month, Biden flew to Detroit to become the first sitting US president to join a picket line, pledging to stand with the workers. The next day, former President Donald Trump warned a crowd there that electric vehicles would kill industry jobs. Detroit’s Electric Reckoning reveals how the strike has become an inflection point—for America’s middle class, for the country’s most storied industry and for the willingness of both to sacrifice in order to help avoid a climate catastrophe.
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