In a major boost to the pro-labor policies of President Joe Biden, General Motors has announced that it will support union membership for the workers at the two new battery factories it’s building in the United States, the Associated Press reports.
The plants, being built in partnership with South Korean manufacturer LG Energy Solution, will be called Ultium LLC and have locations in Lordstown, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, and they’re expected to employ 2,300 workers.
The United Auto Workers have been pushing for GM–and its crosstown rival, Ford–to include union membership in its new battery factories to ensure workers maintain union scale, which tops out at $31 per hour. The union is working to secure positions for its members who will lose jobs at factories making traditional internal combustion engines.
“GM will build on a long history of supporting unions to promote safety, quality, training and well-paying jobs for American workers,” the statement from GM said. “Both GM and Ultium Cells LLC respect workers’ right to unionize and the efforts of the UAW to organize battery cell manufacturing workers.”
The union effort supports the Biden message that unions and middle class wages are cornerstones of the American economy.