Dem Rep. Kildee: We Should Have Had More Worker Protections in EV Push

On Tuesday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Sound On,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) acknowledged that the Inflation Reduction Act should have had more worker protections in it as it pushed a transition to electric vehicles, but stated that “what we’ve done is really significant, and we’re beginning to see the results of that.”

Host Joe Mathieu asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:55] “There’s been a lot of talk about competing interests, as some see it, between supporting organized labor in this case and pushing a transition to EVs, specifically, not just green energy, but EVs within the auto industry. I wonder how the Democrats can straddle this and how the president can succeed by pushing these two, because the union seems to see it in a different way, Congressman. How about you?”

Kildee responded, “Well, they may see it in a different way, but they don’t fear the future. I talk to these workers on the picket lines. I talk to them in the grocery store. They’re my neighbors. They don’t fear the transition to electric vehicles. What they fear is that the companies will use that transition as a way to take work away from union workers and give it to unrepresented, non-union shops. And so, much of the negotiation is not such much about whether the world will change and more vehicles will be electric. That’s going to happen no matter who builds them. The question for us, for those workers is to make sure they have their share of that future, not that they have that transition used as a mechanism, as a way, or an excuse to take work away from union jobs.”

Mathieu then asked, “I’m also remembering a day when the executives from the Big Three were on the North Lawn of the White House, with President Biden, with a big crowd there to usher in the transition to EVs, and essentially helping him promote Bidenomics. Are those not competing interests?”

Kildee answered, “I really don’t think they are. In fact, I was there with the President and the leaders of the Big Three, and I was there on the picket line, all supporting the same thing. This is really about how the structure of the economy in the next 100 years will look. The last 100 years, we saw the rise of the labor movement and the construction of the middle class in this country. So, as we make this transition — and it’s inevitable that we will, the technology will drive that — the real question is whether or not the workers who helped save those companies will also be in a position to get the new work that will be developed as a result of the transition to electric vehicles. It’s different work. It’s a different kind of material that is used. The products are going to be different. But they’re going to be assembled by somebody. And what the UAW is saying and what I’m saying and I know the President is saying is that those jobs ought to be American jobs, they ought to be union jobs, they ought to be done by the same people who helped build those companies in the first place, and, 14 years ago, made a sacrifice to rescue those companies from extinction.”

Mathieu then asked, “We had a grand debate, of course, about the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRA. Congressman, you talked to us in the throes of that debate. Were there enough considerations for workers in that legislation?”

Kildee answered, “I would have liked to have seen more. The way I, for example, wrote some of the legislation that I authored regarding the transition to electric vehicles would have required or given a stronger bonus for that union work. But that’s not how it worked out. So, much of it is left to how we implement. And that’s why I think it’s important who the President of the United States is. What we’re seeing now is unprecedented growth in those jobs that are directly related to renewable energy, to electrification of transportation. A lot of that is coming home. And that’s because we’ve created an environment where there are incentives for private capital to make those sorts of investments. That’s a good thing. Of course, I would have liked to have been able to do more. But what we’ve done is really significant, and we’re beginning to see the results of that.”

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