Striking for a Just Transition? North American Auto Unions and the Electric Vehicle Transition

Abstract

ABSTRACT Decarbonization heightens risks for workers, but union strategies shape how these risks are managed and whether new jobs offer quality employment. This paper compares U.S. and Canadian auto unions during the 2023 Detroit Three bargaining, focusing on strategic capacities and internal politics to explain their divergent responses to the EV transition. Both unions emphasized a just transition and secured significant gains through the negotiations. However, the UAW's militancy emerged as a compensatory mechanism for weakened capacity, while Unifor's traditional approach stemmed from organizational resilience. We argue that understanding this counter‐intuitive relationship between capacity and militancy is critical to understanding cross‐national differences in labor's climate strategies.

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