MI Auto-Worker at the State of the Union

Our Michigan auto-workers are the best in the world, so it was only right that they have a seat at the State of the Union. Members of Congress have the opportunity to invite a guest to the annual address, and this year I could think of no one better than my friend, Mike Huerta.

Mike works at GM Delta Township Assembly in Lansing, where he represents his fellow workers as the President of UAW Local 602. He’s been a leader during a difficult period for Michigan’s workers, and a terrific partner to my team and I.

Over the past two years, GM’s Delta Township and Grand River plants have been repeatedly shut down due to microchip shortages and other supply chain issues. Over and over, assembly lines went dark and workers stayed home – the human impact of our vulnerable supply chain.

The stories of folks like Mike are why I’ve been so focused on our supply-chains, particularly for microchips. It’s unacceptable to me that something as small as a 14-cent chip can bring an entire factory to a halt, and that our auto-workers’ jobs are at the mercy of shipping delays on the other side of the world.

The good news though is that the solution is simple: bring our supply-chains and critical manufacturing home. That’s why I worked so hard with my colleagues to get the CHIPS & Science Act signed into law last summer.

It’s a historic piece of legislation that’s going to revitalize American manufacturing by creating incentives to build factories, especially for microchips, here in the U.S. And when I voted to finally pass the bill, I was thinking of workers like Mike, whose lives had been upended because we had outsourced too many of our supply chains to foreign countries.

But as we begin a new era of industrial policy that puts American workers first, things are looking up. Last night, when President Biden began his speech by talking about the impact of microchip shortages on auto-workers, and how the CHIPS Act will revolutionize American manufacturing, I looked right at Mike, who was watching from the gallery.

He said to me afterwards that this year’s State of the Union seemed like it was made for Michigan. 

– Rep. Elissa Slotkin