Dem Demands On Automakers Could Backfire On Their Own Climate Agenda And Americans’ Wallets, Experts Say

CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in the Daily Caller about Democrat’s demands on automakers:

“The leadership of the UAW is publicly backing the EV push despite the likely impact on its membership,” Sean Higgins, a labor policy expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. “UAW President Shawn Fain has said the ‘green economy is coming’ and therefore must be accepted. He has tried to use this to leverage concessions from automakers, such as having EV batteries made in union factories. In the long run, this may not be good for union members (making EV vehicles requires fewer workers than conventional ones), but unions often aren’t great long-term thinkers.”

Following the new deal, labor costs at the Big Three were estimated to jump to around $90 an hour per worker, which is double that of other automakers like Tesla, which operate in the U.S. with non-unionized labor forces, at the time expending around $45 to $55 per hour per worker. In response to UAW gains, some of the non-unionized automakers have decided to give their workers pay raises to quell unionization desires following the union deal, including Tesla, according to The Associated Press.

“If a union isn’t raising labor costs at a company, then it isn’t doing its job,” Higgins told the DCNF. “More wages, more benefits, better safety standards, etc. all raise labor costs, and those are ultimately passed on to consumers because consumers are the ones that ultimately pay for a business’s products.”

Read the full article on the Daily Caller.