Biden backs Tesla, Toyota unionization ahead of UAW meeting
By Nandita Bose
ROCKFORD, Illinois (Reuters) -President Joe Biden backed United Auto Workers' efforts to unionize carmakers Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Toyota (NYSE:TM) as he departed for a meeting with the UAW president in Illinois later on Thursday.
Biden will meet with Shawn Fain, the head of the United Auto Workers, to highlight the tentative contract agreements between the union and Detroit's Big Three Automakers that ended a nearly 45-day strike.
En route to the event, Biden told reporters that he “absolutely” supports the UAW's efforts to unionize Tesla and Toyota workers.
In Illinois, Biden will deliver remarks praising gains for workers in the deals the UAW won, talk about how his economic policies, dubbed «Bidenomics,» are working and highlight plans to reopen an auto factory that Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) wanted to close, according to the White House.
He will also meet with other UAW members, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and attend a political fundraiser.
In response to Biden's remarks, Toyota said it wants to «foster positive morale» and boost productivity in its workforce. «The decision to unionize is ultimately made by our team members,» the Japanese automaker said in a statement.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remark by Biden, who has backed UAW efforts in other speeches.
Fain previously said the union would seek to organize the nonunion workforces in the U.S. plants of foreign carmakers. Union leaders have signaled Toyota could be one of the first to face those efforts, especially at its sprawling Georgetown, Kentucky, plant.
The UAW has tried and failed for years to organize nonunion U.S. auto factories, most of them built by Asian and European legacy automakers in
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