Union Contract Inclusion Would Mean a Raise for Ultium Battery Workers in Lordstown

Washington (July 27, 2023) - Today, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) joined Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in calling on the big three auto companies, General Motors, Stellantis, and Ford Motor Company, to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair outcome that folds in workers at all joint venture electric vehicle battery facilities into the national UAW contract. This letter follows the announcement in December that workers at the Ultium Cells battery plant in Warren, Ohio voted 710 to 16 to unionize as part of the UAW. The Ultium facility in Ohio, together with the Michigan and Tennessee plants, will create 11,000 jobs—6,000 in construction jobs and 5,100 in clean-energy manufacturing.

“Profits should translate to gains for workers. It is unacceptable that in the midst of extreme financial gains for the companies, executives, and investors, the workers making the electric vehicle batteries that will enable a transition to clean energy vehicles are making poverty-level wages. Before the expiration of UAW’s contract, we urge you to announce that all electric vehicle workers at these joint ventures will be folded into the national UAW contract,” wrote the senators.

In addition to Senators Markey and Brown, Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai'i), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) signed the letter.

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

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