Ed cobalt strike11/19/2023 ![]() If the contract rolls back concessions, battery workers will flock to the UAW. Government grants, loans, and tax credits contain no prevailing wage provision for workers making the product. Workers earn an average of $17 to $21 an hour, have few benefits, and face dangerous working conditions. ![]() While battery cells comprise 25 to 30 percent of the total value of all EV parts and are the key component in the supply chain, the work is poorly paid. In addition to lithium deposits found in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, half a dozen states, including Nevada, California, Utah, and North Carolina contain lithium. Cost efficient and easily stored, it is made from lithium, nickel, cobalt, and aluminum oxide. The most common battery cell is the lithium ion. However, the future of the workers in the United States’ blossoming, heavily subsidized EV sector is implicitly present. Everyone else would report for work, continue strike preparations, and be ready to walkout as needed.įolding in battery workers into the “master agreement” would be a gigantic win as EV production revs up, but that isn’t on the table. The union would begin striking just a few plants across the three corporations. A strike, beginning tomorrow, is almost certain. With the contract set to expire at midnight tonight, the Detroit Three have increased their offers but seem determined to keep a “temporary” or “supplemental” lower-wage/few-benefits layer of the workforce. In most cases, the auto companies have set up new plants as joint ventures, conveniently bypassing their collective bargaining agreement with the UAW.Įlected as a reformer, Fain is making the demand for job security a central priority in negotiations. Given that the technology was developed primarily by Chinese and South Korean companies, the Detroit Three are eager to partner with them. As Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm put it, through linking the reduction of the country’s reliance on fossil fuels to the creation of a homegrown battery industry, the Biden administration aims at building a “global manufacturing powerhouse.”įor their part, auto companies and battery manufacturers are investing $100 billion in building new battery plants in the United States and Canada. While small compared to the largesse in the IRA, it reinforces the administration’s twin goals of drawing down the country’s reliance on China-based manufacturing and dramatically boosting the number of hybrid or fully electric vehicles available by 2030. ![]() Biden’s nod to organized labor provided companies with a unionized workforce extra points on their application, but nothing more. Shortly after the IRA’s first anniversary, the Biden administration announced an additional $15.5 billion to aid the auto companies’ transition. “But the EV transition must be a just transition that ensures auto workers have a place in the new economy.” “The UAW supports and is ready for the transition to a clean auto industry,” Fain said in a late August statement. While the IRA includes prevailing wage standards and apprenticeship programs for the construction industry, it is silent on wages and working conditions in manufacturing. Various analysts estimate the ten-year tax credit may provide battery cell manufacturers with an extra $135-200 billion.Īmid high-stakes contract negotiations with the Big Three automakers, newly elected United Auto Workers (UAW) president Shawn Fain has criticized Biden’s packages for not tying public spending to worker protections. The section grants a $35 credit for every kilowatt-hour of battery cell production and a $10 credit for those of modules. Companies are reimbursed 10 percent of the cost of producing renewable energy. The IRA also extended additional manufacturing tax credits to the Internal Revenue Code. While China remains the global leader in battery manufacturing, North America has emerged as the fastest-growing EV battery hub, surpassing Europe. An increasing majority of battery components are to be produced and assembled domestically. The EV industry will receive an estimated $220 billion by 2031, and customers purchasing a vehicle can pocket a tax credit ranging from $3,750 to $7,500. In the year since President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, its incentives and tax credits for electric vehicles (EV) have accelerated the United States’ burgeoning swath of battery plants.
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