Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would neither confirm nor deny President Joe Biden’s support of a four-day workweek for United Auto Workers members.
The UAW has been on strike for over a week against the three big automakers in Detroit. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis have refused to budge on the union’s demands for decreased hours similar to a four-day week, along with a 36% pay bump over the next four years.
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Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg refuses to say if Biden supports the UAW strike demand of “a four-day workweek with five days of pay” pic.twitter.com/rWsHmZHUT1
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Buttigieg appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday, during which host Kristen Welker asked if the president supported the UAW’s demands, specifically regarding work hours.
“Well, again, he supports them getting a record deal,” Buttigieg said.
“Is that a yes?” Welker pushed.
“We’re not at the table, right,” Buttigieg said. “We’re not part of the negotiations. We’re not doing the numbers. That’s for the companies and the unions to do. What the president is making clear is that he is leading an economy where people need to — as he says, the economy needs to grow from the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down.”
Employees at the three automakers earn between $18 and $32 an hour, meaning that such a dramatic increase would see wages pushed as high as $43.52 per hour. Instead, the automakers have countered with wage increases ranging from 17.5% to 20% over the life of a contract.
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The last time the UAW went on strike was in 2019, and in those six weeks, the largest auto union in the nation cost General Motors $3.6 billion. This time, the union is striking against all of the big Detroit automakers.
UAW boasts a membership of 400,000 in the United States. At the moment, only some of its members are on strike, with 38 facilities across 20 states taking part.
