EV battery startup, UAW reach agreement as company plans big California plant

The UAW has inked an agreement with Sparkz, an electric vehicle battery maker startup, signaling the company won’t hinder unionization efforts as the company makes plans for a new facility in California.

The deal marks the second agreement between Sparkz, which is based in Livermore, California, and a major U.S. union and signals a willingness on the part of the company to work with unions as it plots its future. Last year, Sparkz made a similar deal with the United Mine Workers, promising to partner to recruit and train dislocated miners to be the first group of production workers to be hired at a Sparkz plant planned for north central West Virginia.

Beyond the memorandum of understanding establishing a national labor-management agreement and a statement of neutrality, the agreement with the UAW would set the stage for the company to work with the union as it recruits and trains workers for its California operations.

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Sparkz promotes itself as a company aiming to reengineer the battery supply chain. A news release form the UAW said the company is “finalizing plans for its first GigaCampus location in central California to expand commercialization of its zero-cobalt, zero-nickel battery, which will initially employ 500 workers and could grow to as many as 3,000.”

Cobalt mining, in particular, has a reputation for inhumane treatment of workers in areas like the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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The agreement with the UAW is important for the union as it seeks to organize in the rapidly expanding arena of battery production for electric vehicles, especially as automakers have rushed to create joint ventures with other companies to set up production plants in North America.

UAW President Shawn Fain, who has spoken on the urgency of unionizing at battery plants and of the need to make sure those production jobs provide solid worker benefits and pay, touted the agreement.

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“Workers across the battery supply chain, from electric vehicles to agricultural equipment, must have the right to organize,” Fain said in a news release. “We applaud SPARKZ for doing the right thing in agreeing not to interfere with workers' right to join a union and look forward to winning a strong contract that sets the standard for the battery industry.”

Sparkz founder and CEO Sanjiv Malhotra said in the release that the company is “proud to partner with the UAW to secure the American worker’s place in the new energy economy, while reengineering the battery supply chain domestically. This partnership is a symbol of American innovation and American workers building a high-quality energy future together, while fighting to end foreign dominance of advanced batteries.”

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.