UAW Strike Gets Support From Pro-Labor Lawmakers on Sidelines

Congress is unlikely to have the final say in the ongoing United Autoworkers Strike, allowing pro-labor lawmakers to rally in support of the the union as the work stoppage enters its second week.

The strike against the Big Three automakers Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and Stellantis NV expanded to 38 facilities across 20 states Friday as the union and the companies continue to be far apart in negotiations. Ford was spared of new strikes at its locations after making progress with the union.

But under the National Labor Relations Act, Congress can’t easily interfere to enforce a contract on the striking workers like it was able to last year in a dispute between rail unions and companies, which are covered by an older labor law.

The scenario is a relief to Democrats who were left in an awkward spot when they had to impose a contract on the rail unions to avoid shutting down the US supply chain just before the Christmas holiday. Now they have the option to forcefully cheer the union without the concern that they’ll be asked to push them into a deal.

“I’m with them all the way,” said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who drew a parallel to the historic 44-day GM strike of 1936 that marked one of the first major victories for American organized labor.

“I think they understand that history and I think it’s an appropriate sort of corollary to what we’re dealing with right now,” he said.

Watching From the Sidelines

Congress has the power to delay or halt a rail strike under the Railway Labor Act, and it has done so multiple times, including the latest one last December. But the Taft-Hartley Act, that amended the NLRA in 1947, sets up a more complex path for congressional intervention on other labor stoppages.

The president can interfere in a strike that imperils “the national health or safety,” according to a Congressional Research Service report. But a series of legal hurdles must be fulfilled before the president can ask Congress to intervene in a strike and is a lengthy process that can take at least 80 days.

Without the concern that they would likely have to enforce a contract on the workers, Democrats say the strike should last as long as it takes for the workers to get what they are demanding. Progressive firebrands like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have also joined workers on the picket lines.

Brown said that while there’s much focus on national economic consequences of a strike, there hasn’t been much talk about the workers’ needs.

“They’re talking about the workers hurting the economy. These are executives that make $20 million and $30 million a year. They raise their own pay millions of dollars, yet they continue to deny workers the kind of benefits, health care, retirement and wages they deserve,” Brown said.

Other lawmakers want a quick resolution as the automakers have started to lay off non-unionized workers.

“We hope the strike gets over as soon as possible,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who joined Fetterman on the picket lines.

But even if the strike does persist, and in the unlikely event that lawmakers are asked to halt the UAW stoppages, progressives won’t do so, said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

“We won’t, the progressives won’t tolerate it. Absolutely, no way,” he said.

Pro-labor Democrats also don’t want President Joe Biden to get too involved in negotiations.

“The president does not belong at the table,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

Republican Sympathy

The strike has also drawn sympathy from some Republicans, who are supporting the UAW’s wage hike demands. But many of those GOP lawmakers also say the Inflation Reduction Act’s (Public Law 117-169) generous electric vehicle tax credits have helped spark the crisis by attempting to push the industry toward EVs that take fewer workers to build.

“They deserve a raise, they deserve to get paid better and to have better working conditions, and I think the automakers can afford it,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said. “I also think that the amount of money that these automakers are spending on their stupid climate initiatives and their electrical vehicle garbage that the American public doesn’t want is outrageous.”

But Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who supports UAW’s demands, said that if the market naturally moves toward battery-powered cars there could be benefits as long as the vehicles’ supply chain is in the US.

“I’m somewhat skeptical that if we transition to EVs, you’re going to have a massive decrease in the number of workers,” he said. “Heavier cars require greater infrastructure, so you may lose some on the manufacturing side, you may gain some on the infrastructure development side.”

The public support by some Republican lawmakers for the UAW strike is the latest example of the tensions between corporate interests and the GOP.

There is “definitely a movement going on” to “create a populist pro-labor, pro-union position” within the Republican Party, said Neil Bradley, executive vice president, chief policy officer, and head of strategic advocacy at the US Chamber of Commerce.

“I don’t think it’s fully taken hold, this idea of a populist, pro-union GOP position,” said Bradley, a former House GOP leadership aide.

Democrats point out that the Republican words are not being backed up by actions. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (S. 567), the Democratic proposal to overhaul US labor laws, doesn’t have any Republican support in the Senate.

“I don’t know why they do what they do, but I do know they don’t support the PRO Act,” said Brown. “If they want to show they’re pro-labor, they should support the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.”

Former Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), who has served on Ford’s board but also considers himself a lifelong labor union supporter, said he’s looking at Republicans’ “actions, not words.”

“They have not been friends of unions,” he said. “I think they’re just playing politics.”