United Auto Workers' members have authorized a strike in case negotiations with the Big Three U.S. automakers (GM, F, STLA) fail. One of the big reasons why the UAW is fighting right now is because of the shift to electric vehicles. As Autolist Editor-in-Chief David Undercoffler tells Yahoo Finance Live, there is a "pretty significant" pay between a union and non-union job in a comparable role. "EVs are much simpler to manufacture by several orders of magnitude," Undercoffler says, adding that the UAW is likely looking to the future in a bid to help protect their members' jobs.
Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris says the "critical issue" in the transition to EV manufacturing will be wages, with workers wanting to ensure they will still get the "same, quality wages in an electric vehicle battery plant that they were earning when they were helping to build internal combustion engine vehicles."
