U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Detroit's three major traditional automakers to make more concessions to the United Auto Workers (UAW) to end a strike that threatens the U.S. economy. Biden also said he would send two members of his team to Detroit to engage with both parties.
"They've been working around the clock and these companies have made some significant concessions. But I think they should be doing more to make sure that record corporate profits also lead to record UAW contracts," Biden said of the negotiations at the White House on Friday.
Biden said he would dispatch acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior adviser Gene Sperling to "fully support both parties in reaching an agreement."
The UAW has launched an unprecedented strike at three major automakers in Detroit, setting up a potentially lengthy showdown between labor and management over wages and job security. The union and Stellantis NV, the maker of Ford Motor, General Motors and Jeep and Chrysler, failed to reach a contract agreement by a midnight deadline.
Biden said no one wanted to see a strike, but he expressed support for unions, saying Detroit's Big Three did not share profits fairly with workers.
A prolonged shutdown could shock the entire U.S. economy and undermine one of the pillars of Biden's domestic economic agenda: the transition to electric vehicles. The United Auto Workers union is concerned that the move will result in fewer jobs and lower wages. Union leaders also said the Biden administration has provided billions of dollars in funding to automakers to speed up the transition, but has failed to ensure that union workers also benefit.