Sean Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), representing approximately 370,000 United Auto Workers, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, as she leads the charge for an electric vehicle (EV) mandate that would completely ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles in the U.S., a policy that would put millions of jobs in the U.S. auto industry at risk.
“What we need to do in this election is defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris, who has a proven track record of serving the working class,” Fain said. Said In a statement:
We are at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who opposes everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris, who will fight side by side with us in the fight against corporate greed. This campaign is building a movement that brings together people from all walks of life to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. To our one million active and retired members, The choice is clear: this November, we will elect Kamala Harris as our next President. [Emphasis added]
Fain’s claim that Harris would fight “corporate greed” is contradicted by the fact that her largest donors are billionaires from Wall Street, Silicon Valley and multinational corporations who see her as an ally.
Harris also endorsed the UAW. Co-Sponsor He is a proponent of the Green New Deal, which aims to eliminate gasoline-powered cars, and most recently, during the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination race, announced a plan to eliminate gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
“[W]Harris’ 2020 campaign platform states that she will “ensure that 50 percent of new vehicles sold are zero-emission vehicles by 2030, and 100 percent by 2035.”
Such a plan would put millions of U.S. auto jobs at risk because of America’s reliance on China for critical minerals needed to produce EV batteries, and because EVs generally require much less labor, automakers can hire fewer employees at lower wages to produce them.
At the same time, President Trump vowed to “end the electric vehicle mandate from day one, thereby saving the U.S. auto industry from the complete demise that is currently occurring and saving American customers thousands of dollars per car.”
Similarly, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s vice presidential nominee, introduced the “Drive American Act” last year, proposing to eliminate more than $100 billion in EV subsidies provided by President Joe Biden and the Harris administration and replace them with an “America First Vehicle Credit.”
The credit provides a tax credit of up to $7,500 to auto workers earning at least $35 an hour and U.S. consumers earning less than $150,000 a year who buy gasoline-powered vehicles made in U.S. factories with U.S.-sourced parts.
Vance’s bill would require automakers to raise wages for auto workers in order for gasoline-powered vehicles to qualify for tax credits.
Even with the UAW’s backing, Fein acknowledged that a “vast majority” of autoworkers will vote for Trump in November. In his previous endorsement of Biden, Fein similarly acknowledged that “working class people are suffering” in the current economy.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
