Auto workers deserve to benefit from transition to clean energy, electric vehicles

Drandi Funches, an assembler for 12 years, waves a flag as SUVs pass by during a rally outside the Ford assembly plant in South Deering on Sept. 29. Workers at the plant walked out to join striking UAW workers across the country. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

When General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford — the “Big Three” American automakers — were close to extinction 15 years ago, their workers and the American people stepped in to save them. The United Auto Workers (UAW) gave back wages and benefits they had every right to get under a contract they had negotiated just a year before.

Now, rather than being paid back, union workers face getting left out of the future of the car business. And the rest of the country is being told we have a Hobson’s choice when it comes to electric vehicles: We can have them, but only at a cost to our neighbors who build them.