Shawn Fain Takes On Musk, Trump Over Labor’s Green Future
The UAW’s newish president won Detroit auto workers their best deals in decades. Now he’s out to organize Tesla and the rest of the industry’s EV jobs.
Fain in the union’s Washington office with a photo from a recent rally.
Photographer: Jared Soares for Bloomberg Businessweek
Last summer, Joe Biden invited Shawn Fain into the Oval Office and told him it was time for a “come to Jesus” chat. Fain, the newish president of the United Auto Workers, was leading a high-stakes contract battle against Detroit’s Big Three automakers, and he’d been telling members, reporters and anyone else who’d listen that he wanted more help from the White House. The implication was that the UAW was holding out for more reasons to join the raft of major unions that had already endorsed Biden in his likely rematch with Donald Trump. “The federal government is pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition,” Fain had told members in a May letter, “with no strings attached and no commitment to workers.” Fain’s endorsement matters. The Rust Belt delivered Trump the presidency in 2016 and helped seal Biden’s victory in 2020.