EV manufacturing on the table in UAW strike

Media outlets, including Detroit’s Automotive News, are reporting that GM-UAW negotiations include the allocation of an electric pickup to the Hamtramck, Michigan plant, and manufacturing of EV battery cells to its Lordstown, Ohio facility. One bargaining chip for UAW: GM’s recent receipt of USD 2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for solid-state battery R&D. UAW is striking to prevent GM’s planned permanent closure of four plants: Detroit-Hamtramck and Warren Transmission (Michigan), Lordstown Assembly (Ohio), and GM's Baltimore, Maryland operations. Instead, it wants to secure product investments to keep the plants open and union members working. The company has already committed to USD 7 billion in investments, wage increases, lump-sum increases, bonuses, and profit-sharing. For perspective, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant is 4.1 million-square-foot and has more than 800 workers on one shift. GM CEO Mary Barra has previously expressed the company’s sizeable future in electric vehicles, with approximately 20 new models cited as on the way and plans to invest some USD 8 billion toward EVs and self-driving cars. In April, Barra confirmed the automaker would build an electric full-size pickup.