executive director of BlueGreen Alliance, a group uniting organized labor and environmental advocates., striking UAW member and Production Team Leader for Ford Motor Company.MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: It's nearing two weeks since members of the United Auto Workers Union went on strike against the big three Detroit automakers, Ford, GM, and Stellantis, the Netherlands based conglomerate that acquired Chrysler in 2021.
Ford CEO Jim Farley recently took a road trip in the Ford F-150 Lightning and took a pit stop in California to talk with CBS News. Its support for EV doesn't seem to entirely square with the demands of the UAW. Here's what Vice President Kamala Harris said about that yesterday on PBS's NewsHour. CHAKRABARTI: I've noted before, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Biden and GM CEO Mary Barra are actually some, they've been reported as being somewhat close. Does that sort of put some tension in that relationship?
They're trying to get models out that are competitive. And it's a very difficult time for the auto industry in that respect. CHAKRABARTI: I see. And especially startups, right? Unlike Tesla was when it began, really transforming the EV market. So I've been reading that, for example, I think it's for the F-150 Lightning. Talking about the gas-powered cars still subsidizing the EV ones. It's something like 60,000 of the overall cost of the construction of an F-150 Lightning has to be subsidized by the regular Ford F-150?EWING: Yeah, no, that sounds right.
So we spoke with Yen Chen, Principal Economist at the Center for Automotive Research, and he told us that EVs require less labor than internal combustion cars for a simple reason. They've got fewer parts. CHAKRABARTI: So Jack Ewing, we've got Tesla here as the comparison. Tell me more about what you think regarding just the sheer kind of labor structure around EVs versus what's currently in place for the big three and their gas-powered cars.
But Jack, so now that we've talked about the some of the structural differences and actually assembling an electric vehicle vs. a traditional gas-powered vehicle. Can you give me your assessment about how much the question of EVs is actually playing into the thinking of UAW strikers and UAW leadership right now?
TIFFANIE SIMMONS: My father is actually a Ford Motor Company employee since 1987. So I have been a Ford girl before I knew what Ford was. I've been a Ford girl since I was two years old.SIMMONS: My father was able to maintain an entire household with one paycheck, very comfortably. It's like letting someone borrow money and telling them,"Okay when you get on your feet, I need my money back." And then when they get on their feet, they've got a yacht, a mansion, a Lamborghini, and you go to ask for your money back and not only do they say,"No, I'm not giving you your money back." But they call you ungrateful, greedy for wanting what was yours in the first place.
CHAKRABARTI: Tiffanie says she's striking to ensure that working in the auto industry can once again mean supporting a family, because right now: He's professor in the Department of Politics, Governance, and Economics at American University and author of"The UAW’s Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-Owned Vehicle Plants." Professor Silvia, welcome to you.CHAKRABARTI: We're going to, I want to get your perspective about the UAW's future as we move towards electric vehicles.
When they voted on it, the only people who voted were people who were going to keep the higher wages. Because it was only new hires that were going to get the lower wages. 16 years later, a big share of the UAW membership is getting paid. About one third less than those legacy employees that were around in 2007.
SILVIA: The Detroit big three, they have plants across the country, including in the South, but they have arrangements with the UAW that make it relatively easy to unionize those plants. It's almost like the two-tier discussion back in 2007, that if it gets set in place, that these battery plants are going to get a lower rate, that'll be locked in for some time. And that won't, and that will lead to the same sort of divisions that we see with two tiers in the existing plants.EWING: Yeah, I think that's an excellent point. That the manufacturer is going to shift from engines and transmissions to batteries.