Biden taps Sperling to smooth UAW contract talks with Detroit automakers
The UAW threatened to go on strike before their national contract with Detroit’s Big 3 expires on Sept. 14.
President Joe Biden drives a Cadillac Lyriq through the show room during a tour at the Detroit Auto Show, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, in Detroit.
The Biden administration is dispatching one of its top economic advisors to help smooth over relations between the United Auto Workers and Detroit’s auto companies.
The UAW fears President Biden’s push for electric vehicles could cost union jobs. The union threatened to go on strike before their national contract with Ford, GM and Stellantis expires on Sept. 14 — a potential political and economic headache for Biden.
Enter senior White House advisor Gene Sperling, a Michigan native who also helped craft economic policy for the Obama and Clinton administrations. While attending a reopening ceremony celebrating the renovated Roosevelt Park in Detroit, Sperling said the Biden agenda centers on helping workers.
“It is about fundamentally investing in America, bringing manufacturing and jobs back to the United States, and investing in the people and the communities,” Sperling says.
The UAW has yet to endorse Biden for a second term despite casting himself as a friend to unions.
GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump told a crowd in Novi last month that focusing on electric vehicles will decimate auto jobs in the U.S.
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