UAW President: “No excuse” for Detroit’s non-union EV operations

DETROIT (Reuters) – United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain said Friday there is “no excuse” for Detroit’s automakers to set up electric vehicle operations and ventures that are not unionized.

Fain told the Detroit Automotive Press Association that Stellantis NV’s decision to idle an assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, is “a flat out violation” of the union’s current contract with the UAW and is “unacceptable.” Stellantis has said the plant has been idled but is not permanently shut down.

Detroit automakers have set up several U.S. joint venture battery factories that are not covered by their current agreements with the UAW. Ford Motor (NYSE:) Co is building a new electric vehicle manufacturing complex in Tennessee, called Blue Oval City. Workers there would have to vote to join the UAW.