President Joe Biden’s green agenda for the auto industry is set to shift billions in wealth away from American workers to multinational corporations, a new report from the United Auto Workers (UAW) details.
As part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, automakers producing Electric Vehicles (EVs) and the batteries needed to power them could soon see a windfall of $220 billion by 2031 in the form of taxpayer-funded subsidies.
The subsidies are a result of a provision in the law that allows automakers to take advantage of tax credits so long as their EVs and batteries are primarily sourced in the United States and manufactured in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico.
The plan, though, is set to transfer billions in wealth straight into the pockets of multinational corporations — effectively an industry-wide bailout at the expense of taxpayers.
In the UAW report, the labor union looks at General Motors (GM) and LG’s EV battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, known as Ultium Cells, which replaced GM’s old vehicle assembly plant.
While workers at the former plant earned up to $30 an hour, the UAW notes that workers at the Ultium Cells plant are earning about $16.50 an hour with a raise to $20 an hour after seven years. This suggests a 45 percent drop in wages for auto workers in Lordstown.
“We cannot allow a race to the bottom for America’s working families,” the report states. “The UAW fully supports the transition to a more climate-friendly auto industry, and we are convinced that it can be done without making workers pay the price.”
At the same time, GM and LG — through the Ultium Cells plant, alone — could rake in more than $1 billion annually in subsidies via Biden’s EV tax credits.
The UAW is worried the Biden subsidies will “be used to supercharge corporate profits” while slashing wages for workers.
“… there is a real danger that hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars will subsidize an EV industry that underpays and endangers workers,” the report states.
As Breitbart News reported, the UAW is withholding an endorsement for Biden as the administration has yet to follow through on commitments that auto workers will not have their wages cut if their manufacturing jobs are transitioned to green energy jobs.
For years, Breitbart News has detailed how a publicly funded transition from combustion engines to EVs has the potential to eliminate millions of American auto jobs and leave auto workers with drastically cut wages.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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