The global auto industry is shifting to EVs in response to pressure from countries and regions like China and Europe that want to reduce carbon emissions.
Companies also face growing pressure from investors on
environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) matters. Automakers not
only are charging ahead on the EV rollout, but also working to ensure a supply
of battery minerals.
"Every business will be significantly affected by the
transition to a net-zero economy," Illinois State Treasurer Michael
Frerichs said at a conference held by the Council of Institutional Investors, a
group of public, corporate and union employee benefit funds.
"Companies have a responsibility to their investors ...
and to their communities and their workers to prepare for this
transition," he added. "We can't let them bury their heads in the
sand and pretend they don't need to make any changes."
Part of that push includes good-paying jobs and access to
union representation in plants, the speakers said at the event in Washington.
Cindy Estrada, vice president of the United Auto Workers
union, which represents most U.S. hourly workers at General Motors Co, Ford
Motor Co and Stellantis, said the key is protecting worker jobs and wages in
the EV transition.
"We could end up doing this transition and lower
workplace standards," she said, citing the numerous EV battery plants
coming online in the United States. She said the battery plant workers are
expected to be paid about $17 an hour, compared with the $30-plus workers in
current engine plants earn.
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk earlier this month invited the UAW
to hold a vote to represent workers at the EV leader's California plant. UAW
officials have not commented on the invitation, but Musk has been hostile to
the union in the past.
In November, 10 advocacy groups, including Sierra Club and
Greenpeace, urged EV startup Rivian Automotive Inc to engage with labor unions.
Workers at Rivian's Illinois plant are not unionized.
Investors need to use their leverage with companies to ask
tough questions and push for greater transparency, said Richard Kent, Amnesty
International's researcher on human rights and energy transition.
Wednesday's panel was hosted by SOC Investment Group, an
adviser for union pension funds with more than $250 billion in assets. SOC
pressed Rivian last fall on its battery supply chain.
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