by Will Kessler
A House Democrat predicted Tuesday on an episode of Bloomberg’s podcast “Sound On” that President Joe Biden would intervene to avoid a major auto industry strike.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) is currently in negotiations with the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — over employment contracts for unionized workers that are set to expire on Sept. 14. Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer told “Sound On” host Joe Mathieu that he believes that Biden will prevent a strike between the Big Three and UAW by intervening in negotiations, citing past interventions in union negotiations.
“This administration, Joe Biden and his folks have done a really good job of intervening again and again, on the longshoremen, on the UPS,” Beyer said on the podcast. “I certainly expect that we will see the White House intervening to make sure that they don’t strike against the Big Three.”
The United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters narrowly avoided a strike of up to 1.2 million union drivers after reaching a deal in July, less than a week before the current contract was set to expire.
“Our stance is to stay out, respect the parties unless asked, or unless there’s some reason why we believe that we could be helpful,” Julie Su, acting Department of Labor secretary, told Axios in an interview. “This president and I really believe in the collective bargaining process, which is premised on the parties coming together, sitting down, negotiating, grappling with hard things, and coming to a resolution.”
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) on Thursday reached a deal with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) on a new contract agreement covering 29 West Coast ports and 20,000 unionized workers. Biden will meet with leaders from the ILWU and the PMA on Wednesday after making a statement crediting “Bidenomics” for empowering workers to receive better wages and benefits, according to CNBC.
“Especially after all the inflation that affected new cars and used cars in the last couple of years, we would need to look at supply shortages again driving up prices,” Beyer said on the podcast in the event of a strike. “That would be a terrible thing for the American consumer.”
The UAW authorized a strike on Aug. 25, allowing union leadership to call members to strike at any given moment if negotiations sour. The estimated economic loss from just a 10-day strike by UAW workers was $5.6 billion.
The UAW, Beyer and the White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Will Kessler is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “UAW Striking” by UAW.
