UAW eyes expanded organizing at Rivian, Tesla, Honda, Toyota, VW…

After a successful six-week wave of strikes at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the United Auto Workers is following up with helping rank and file workers at non-union plants in the United States.

The union has signaled that its next campaign is to organize workers at battery plants, EV factories and foreign transplants that have long resisted organized labor.

 

“One of our biggest goals coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never organized before,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with a Big Three, but with a Big Five or Big Six.”

 

He’s called workers at non-union vehicle manufacturers like Rivian in Normal and Tesla in Fremont, Calif., “UAW members of the future.”

 

Observers say that labor may have a battle, but pointing to gains achieved during negotiations with the Big Three could convince non-union workers of the benefits of union representation.

 

As for targeted corporations, they should expect the UAW to use the same hardball tactics that proved effective against Detroit’s automakers, from contrasting wages that failed to keep up with inflation to exorbitant pay to executives, and even if unionization drives fall short, companies could raise wages to rebuff unions.

 

“This agreement is going to have a trickle-down effect,” said New York law firm Wilk Auslander employment law specialist Helen Rella told the New York Times.

 

Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutons LLC agreed, noting, “It's still difficult in many places. The plants down South will fight tooth and nail against it. In many cases, the workers are politically opposed to unionization. Changing their minds will be difficult, but substantial raises and added benefits can change minds quickly.

 

"If existing factories do not catch up to the UAW standard, the likelihood of the union moving into those plants has just increased,” he added.

 

Art Wheaton, director of Labor Studies at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations' Buffalo Co-Lab, said the push to leverage wins at the bargaining table into organizing campaigns isn't unique to the UAW. Sean O'Brien, president of the Teamsters, has sought to use the union's favorable contract with the United Parcel Service to make inroads in organizing workers at e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc.

For Central Illinois, the UAW’s win with Ford, GM and Stellantis would give the union the edge at Rivian, where the Machinists also are collecting union authorization cards with some of the 8,000 or so workers there. The UAW is “absolutely” organizing at the EV maker, UAW Region 4 organizer Cam Hefty told the Labor Paper.

 

And although California’s anti-union owner of Tesla, Elon Musk, shouldn’t be underestimated, that goes both ways, according to Seth Harris, former deputy director at the National Economic Council under President Biden.

 

“The UAW is showing itself to be a militant, well-organized force,” said Harris, now a professor at Northeastern University in Boston.