The automotive industry, employing nearly 13 million workers directly and indirectly in Europe, has historically been a stronghold for Europe’s industrial trade union movement, with well-functioning industrial relations, progressive collective agreements, and strong health and safety standards. However, the shift to electrification, decarbonisation, digitalisation, and increasing global competition presents both challenges and opportunities for trade unions.

Some years ago, the European Battery Alliance estimated that 800,000 workers would need to be trained, upskilled, or reskilled by 2025 to meet rapidly growing demand. However, due to several factors, this picture has radically altered because of the slowdown in electric car sales and has led to job losses in this nascent sector. Whether this is a hiccup or represents a longer-term issue remains to be seen. To ensure it is a hiccup, industriAll Europe insists on the need for a proactive European industrial policy. 

Maintaining a strong union presence in the evolving industry requires active organising strategies. To address this, industriAll Europe has launched the EU-financed project (2024–2026) “Putting Trade Union Power into European Batteries” to support unions in organising both existing and new greenfield battery factories. The project will begin with mapping existing investments and union situations across Europe, followed by organiser training and national seminars in early 2025. The project will prioritise Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia, while inviting other countries with significant investment, such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway and the UK, to participate.

Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe, underlined the importance of collective agreements for a just industrial transition:

“A socially sustainable battery industry can only be guaranteed by a unionised workforce, good-quality collective agreements, constructive social dialogue mechanisms, and trained health and safety committees. To push employers to engage in social dialogue and ensure a Just Transition, we need an organised workforce ready to act. This is precisely what our project aims to achieve.”

With a labour force including large numbers of outsourced and migrant labour, unions must proactively ensure fair wages, safe conditions, and inclusive agreements. The project aims to empower unions to secure the rights and conditions necessary for a sustainable and just battery industry transition.