The powerful United Auto Workers is holding off on endorsing President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, citing concerns over his policies that would encourage a transition to electric vehicles, according to a memo from the union.
Biden, who has termed himself the most “pro-union” president in history, has already received the backing of some unions, including Service Employees International Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. His first stop after announcing his reelection campaign last week was to a union conference in Washington.
But the Detroit-based UAW is stopping short of backing the president, whom it endorsed in 2020, as Biden works to enact policies meant to combat climate change, including encouraging the manufacture of electric vehicles.
“The United Auto Workers is not yet making an endorsement,” the group’s president Shawn Fain wrote in a memo to members.
The UAW has more than 400,000 members, and Biden has touted its support in the past. Last year he called American autoworkers “the most skilled autoworkers in the world.” The group’s membership is mostly concentrated in Michigan, a presidential election battleground.
Leaders from the group met in Washington last week with top Biden administration officials to voice their concerns over the electronic vehicle policies.
Biden has endorsed policies meant to significantly transition the nation’s autos to electric, including rules from the EPA that would ensure two-thirds of new cars sold in the United States are electric by 2032.
The transition is meant to curb emissions that are a leading cause of climate change. But autoworkers are expressing concern the transition could leave them out.
Electronic vehicles are easier to make in large part because they have fewer components. Internal combustion vehicles and their…
Read the full article here