Auto union blasts Biden administration $9 billion loan to Ford battery venture
Breanne Deppisch
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The largest U.S. auto union on Friday sharply criticized the Department of Energy’s conditional $9.2 billion loan to Ford and its manufacturing partner SK On to build three electric vehicle battery plants, accusing the Biden administration of “actively funding the race to the bottom” in approving the funds.
In a statement, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain described the loan as a massive “giveaway” with “no consideration for wages, working conditions, union rights or retirement security.”
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“These companies are extremely profitable and will continue to make money hand over fist whether they’re selling combustion engines or EVs. Yet the workers get a smaller and smaller piece of the pie,” Fain said.
“Why is Joe Biden’s administration facilitating this corporate greed with taxpayer money?” he added.
The conditional loan agreement, granted to Ford and its Korean battery manufacturing partner by DOE’s Loan Programs Office, is the largest government loan made to a U.S. automaker since the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent bailout of the auto industry.
The massive cash infusion will help fund three new EV battery manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky operated by the joint venture BlueOval SK.
The DOE said in a statement Thursday that the new manufacturing facilities will create roughly 5,000 construction jobs and 7,500 operating jobs once the sites are up and running.
The Biden administration has raced to build out the electric vehicle and battery manufacturing supply chain in a bid to compete against China and deliver on its goal of having 50% of all new cars sold in the United States be electric vehicles by the year 2030. EVs currently account for roughly 7% of all cars sold in the U.S.
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The United Auto Workers union has been critical of Biden’s presidency and said last month that it was not yet endorsing President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign in 2024, citing his stance on electric vehicles.
Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Loan Programs Office was tasked with overseeing the distribution of roughly $400 billion in new loans.