The United Auto Workers is serious about unionizing more car factories across the United States and has the support of President Joe Biden.
Soon after the union reached tentative labor contracts with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, UAW president Shawn Fain said he was targeting other carmakers in the next series of labor talks scheduled for 2028. While recently speaking at the Reuters Events auto conference in Detroit, Fain revealed that hundreds of workers in the auto industry at nonunion plants had reached out to the UAW seeking to join after its new Ford, GM, and Stellantis deals.
“We’re going to pull out all stops,” Fain said. “We’re going to leverage every avenue we can and we’re going to find creative ways to get to workers. We’re going to employ everything we can to support workers and give them what they need.”
Companies in the crosshairs of Fain include Toyota and Tesla. Many of the car factories the UAW has tried to unionize over the years are those owned by Asian and European brands in the southern U.S. states with ‘right to work’ labor laws where it is optional for workers to pay union dues. Fain wants to return to the bargaining table in 2028 with not just the Big Three “but with the Big Five or Big Six,” he said, potentially including Tesla, Toyota, and Honda.
President Biden has been a vocal supporter of the UAW during its recent contract negotiations and when asked if he would support a drive to unionize more U.S. car factories by the Los Angeles Times, he said “absolutely.”
Read: UAW Ready To Take On Tesla, Honda, And Toyota In Next Batch Of Talks In 2028
“I want this type of contract for all auto workers and I have a feeling the UAW has a plan for that,” he added. Biden also fiercely criticized Donald Trump who recently held a rally at a non-union shop in Michigan.
“Here’s the difference: When you were in the middle of a fight, I stood and others stood with you, shoulder-to-shoulder on that picket line,” Biden said during a recent trip to Illinois. “My predecessor went to a non-union shop and attacked you. I hope you guys have a memory. Where I come from, it matters.”
The UAW has more than 400,000 members and President Biden is eager for the union to endorse him in his 2024 run to maintain his seat in the Oval Office. The UAW backed him in 2020 but has not yet officially endorsed him for next year.
“I want to thank you for your commitment to solidarity, for exercising your right to bargain collectively,” Biden added. “You made this happen, and by the way, it’s a bigger thing, I think even y’all realize. You’ve changed, you’re changing the face of the country economically.”
