Solidarity with Uaw

Floor Speech

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Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, today, I stand in solidarity with my colleagues and the 150,000 members of the United Auto Workers fighting for fair pay and safer working conditions. In high cost-of-living areas, like the area I represent, the bay area, cost-of-living adjustments are necessary to ensure that workers have a livable standard in their community with their job.

Over the past decade, the Big Three automakers almost doubled their profits, much of it with the help from the United States Government. These profits totaled $250 billion. The CEOs' pay increased almost 40 percent just in the last 4 years. Unfortunately, pay for the workers hasn't come near to following suit. Though the strikes are currently ongoing in three States, their outcome will have impacts on and provide benefits to the quality of life for autoworkers across the country.

As a member of both the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, I am especially aware of the implications these negotiations will have on the electric vehicle transition. As a former union member myself, I believe we need to ensure strong labor protections for this new and fast-growing industry which provides a historic opportunity to both support workers and provide for a just and sustainable economic transition.

I thank the UAW members for their sacrifice and their commitment. I thank them nationwide for standing up for what is right, and what is right not just for their members but for the future of this country.

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