Public hearing for proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards and fuel economy standards

Public Hearing for Proposed Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Economy Standards for Light-Duty Vehicles in Model Years 2017-2025

January 17, 2012
Detroit, Michigan

Bob King's Testimony (pdf)

Hello and thank you. My name is Bob King, and I am President of the United Auto Workers International Union. The UAW represents close to 1,000,000 active and retired members across a diverse range of industries and occupations, but we are of course concentrated in the motor vehicle sector. Over 150,000 UAW members work in the light-duty vehicle and parts industry that the proposed rules cover.

It’s an honor to be here this morning, on behalf of our membership, to voice the UAW’s full support for the proposed rules regulating greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel economy. The proposed rules are sensible, achievable, and needed. They are good for the auto industry and its workers, good for the broader economy, good for the environment and good for our national security.

Adopting the proposed rules will give an additional boost to the revitalization of the auto industry that began with President Obama’s courageous action in the depths of the industry’s crisis to save American manufacturing jobs by giving GM and Chrysler the breathing room they needed to restructure. After a painful process in which workers and retirees made significant sacrifices, the industry is coming back strong. Our union’s new collective bargaining agreements with Ford, General Motors and Chrysler include substantial investment commitments by all three companies, in some cases bringing back work from overseas. The 20,000 UAW-represented hourly jobs that will be added over the next four years will have a substantial positive ripple effect throughout the supply chain as well as local communities.

One important reason we are so confident about the industry’s future is that we are excited about the new green technologies that are being developed in the United States and produced in UAW-represented facilities. The drive to bring innovative fuel-saving technologies to market is transforming the auto industry in the United States and creating good jobs from the research lab to the factory floor.

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have made an unprecedented commitment to invest billions of dollars in their U.S. operations over the next few years, and in every case the investment is supporting new vehicles and powertrains that will be more efficient than the previous generation.

This includes exciting advances such as 8- and 9-speed automatic transmissions, both dual-clutch and conventional; engines that feature advanced valve timing and gasoline direct injection; downsized and turbo-charged engines, and vehicles that are considerably lighter than the previous generations but retain the same size. Technologies such as start-stop systems and electric power steering are also making a contribution to vehicle efficiency.

There is a common element for all these technologies – they are all now or will soon be produced by UAW members in factories located in the United States.

And that’s just the beginning – UAW members are also producing new technologies that may not reach large volumes for many years, but that represent the long-term future of the industry. That includes hybrid transmissions and electric-drive components, lithium-ion battery packs, and plug-in and pure electric vehicles. Although most automakers will continue to meet fuel-efficiency and tailpipe emission targets through improvements to conventional vehicles, we are excited that these new, transformative technologies are being produced by UAW members.

These are the automotive jobs of the future, and we are very pleased that they are starting to ramp up now, here in the United States. Thanks to the fresh start President Obama gave the domestic auto industry, new labor agreements that are the result of an innovative, problem-solving approach to bargaining, and the strong, transparent working relationship we have with UAW employers, the U.S. auto industry is growing and adding employees. These proposed rules are a cornerstone of that growth. They provide certainty as manufacturers map out their product and investment plans.

I want to underscore why we believe the drive to increase fuel-efficiency and reduce tailpipe pollution is creating jobs in the U.S. auto industry. One obvious reason is that consumers are demanding more fuel-efficient vehicles, and meeting that demand is an increasingly important part of this business. In an age of rising and volatile fuel prices, American families want to save money on fuel.

A second, more fundamental reason is because the technology needed to improve efficiency and reduce pollution represents additional content on each vehicle. That additional content must be engineered and produced by additional employees.

Last year the UAW, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Larry’s organization, the National Wildlife Federation, produced a report called “Supplying Ingenuity.” That report identified more than 500 separate facilities in the United States employing over 150,000 people where some or all of the employees are working to invent, engineer or produce advanced vehicles and fuel-saving components. These are real jobs supporting real American families.

I also want to say that the UAW believes that the auto manufacturers, all the companies that participated in the technical discussions about these proposals and signed a letter of commitment to support its framework, deserve tremendous credit for their commitment to dramatically increase the efficiency and reduce the emissions of the vehicles sold in the United States.

This is a testament to good government. It shows how government can bring disparate stakeholders together to solve problems that are important to the American public. These proposed rules will reduce the pollution that contributes to climate change, significantly reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, and save American families money at the pump. They will also create jobs in the auto industry and throughout the economy.

That’s an incredible set of positive effects from these proposed rules, and it sums up why the United Auto Workers are in strong support of these proposals. President Obama and his administration, including the two agencies here today, did a great job in developing the proposed rules, and we thank the President for all the great work he has done to strengthen the American automobile industry and automotive communities. Thank you for your time and consideration.