UAW standoff poses risk to Biden's electric vehicle pledge

A looming auto industry strike could test the president's pledge to make electric vehicles a source of good-paying union jobs .

President Biden has been very responsive to electric vehicle policy, helping pass billions in subsidies to create new manufacturing jobs and making every effort possible to woo the United Automobile Workers union.

But while the union and major American automakers – General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, Jeep and Ram – heading toward a strike deadline set for Thursday evening, the political challenge posed by the industry's transition to electric cars may only be beginning.

The union, led by its new president, Shawn Fain, wants workers who make electric vehicle components like batteries to benefit from better wages and labor standards than the roughly 150,000 U.A.W. members appreciate from all three automakers. Most battery factories are not unionized.

Detroit automakers counter that such workers are generally employed in joint ventures with foreign automakers than U.S. automakers do not fully control. The companies say that even if they could raise the wages of battery workers at the rate set by their U.A.W. contract, that could make them uncompetitive with non-union rivals, like Tesla.

And then there is former President Donald J. Trump, who running to unseat Mr. Biden and said the president's clean energy policies are costing U.S. jobs and raising prices for consumers.

White House officials say Mr. Biden will still be able to deliver on his clean energy promise. -quality jobs and a strong domestic electric vehicle industry.

ImageThe Labor Leader United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, center, wants his union's wages and labor standards to apply to non-union workers who make electric vehicle components. Credit...Brittany Greeson for The New York Times

“The president's policies have always been about ensuring not only that the future of our electric vehicles is built in America, with jobs in the United States,” said Gene Sperling, Mr. Biden’s liaison to the U.A.W. and the auto industry, “but would promote good union jobs and a just transition” for current auto workers whose jobs are at risk.

But publicly at least, the president has so far spoken only vaguely about salaries. Last month, he said the transition to electric vehicles should allow workers to "earn good wages and benefits to support their families" and that when union jobs are replaced by new jobs, they should go to union members and pay a “proportionate” wage. . He encourages businesses and the union to continue negotiations and reach an agreement, one of Mr. Biden's economic advisers, Jared Bernstein, told reporters on Wednesday.

A strike could force Mr. Biden to be more explicit and choose between his commitment to workers and the need to negotiate a compromise that avoids a costly long-term shutdown.

"Battery workers need to be paid the same amount as the U.A.W. workers of today's Big Three," said Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who has encouraged government investment in new technologies.

Mr. Khanna added: “This is how we contrast with Trump: we are for creation...