Can the UAW Unionize Tesla?

For President Joe Biden, this week’s settlement of the United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three domestic automakers was a proof of concept for his contention that American workers can thrive in the transition to a clean-energy economy. But the most important test of that proposition is still ahead.

The UAW’s tentative agreements with General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (which sells cars under the Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge brands) represent one of the biggest victories in decades for organized labor. After years of stagnating or declining wages for autoworkers, the contracts provide union members with a pay increase that could reach 30 percent by early 2028. This will provide Biden—who supported the strike almost unreservedly—a powerful example to rebut the frequent accusation from Donald Trump and other Republicans that the administration’s push for a rapid transition to electric vehicles will destroy the domestic auto industry and erase union jobs.

“To quote President Biden out of context, the settlement is ‘a big effing deal,’” Jason Walsh, the executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor unions and environmentalists, told me. “It ends a race to the bottom in the auto industry that leads to progressively lower