Vice President Kamala Harris Visits Union-Represented New Flyer Facility in St. Cloud, Minn.

St. Cloud, Minn.: Today Vice President Kamala Harris visited workers and members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and toured New Flyer’s electric bus manufacturing plant in St. Cloud, Minn.

After the tour, the Vice President spoke to New Flyer workers, highlighting how the Administration’s investments in electric vehicles are creating a clean energy economy that works for all and good-paying, union jobs. Wade Walvatne, a maintenance technician at New Flyer and vice president of CWA Local 7304, introduced Vice President Harris and thanked her and President Biden for their commitment to rebuilding the middle class in the U.S. by investing in good, union jobs. (A copy of Walvatne’s remarks as prepared is available here.)

“Electric buses are key to the future of public transportation in America -- which is why, since taking office, together with Democrats and Republicans, we have invested over $5.5 billion to put thousands of new electric transit buses on the streets of our nation," Harris told the crowd. “And we've also done that to create jobs – so people can have decent work hours and have good-paying union jobs.”

Over 500 New Flyer workers in St. Cloud are represented by CWA Local 7304 and manufacture and supply buses for cities across the country, and are currently working on electric buses for municipal transit systems.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Biden and Vice President Harris championed authorizes more than $5 billion for state and local governments to purchase or lease of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses, and the Inflation Reduction Act provides numerous grants and tax credits that will make it easier for state and local governments to invest in electric buses for years to come.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris have worked effectively with Congress to authorize funding for job-creating infrastructure projects, like modernizing our nation’s aging fleet of buses,” said Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton. “Not only that, but after the bills have passed, their administration has followed through to do everything possible to ensure that these funds are being used as Congress intended, to create good, family-supporting union jobs like those at New Flyer in Minnesota.”

As vice president, Joe Biden visited the St. Cloud New Flyer facility in 2009 to promote the Obama Administration’s economic stimulus package and the role of federal investment in creating good, union jobs and to lay a foundation for growth in green manufacturing.

“When Joe Biden visited New Flyer fourteen years ago, he said the work our members were doing was an ‘example for the future’ and he was right,” said Susie Mcallister, Vice President of CWA District 7. “Back then we were helping with the transition to hybrid buses, and today it’s the transition to electric. The future of our economy is in green jobs and it is in union jobs. President Biden and Vice President Harris have always understood the critical role that union members play in strengthening our communities and our democracy.”

“We are so excited to have met with Vice President Harris today about the importance of our work manufacturing electric vehicles, and we thank her and President Biden for showing their support for our good, union jobs,” said Matt Lelou, a welder at New Flyer in St. Cloud and President of CWA Local 7304. “The workers at our New Flyer facility in St. Cloud are highly-trained and essential to driving our country into the future of electric buses. Thanks to our union and the ability it gives us to have a voice on the job, we are also well-paid and maintain a good work-life balance. As our country modernizes its public transportation fleet, it’s critical we create more good union jobs in the process and ensure professionally trained workers are leading the way.”

With a union and a seat at the table, workers at New Flyer’s St. Cloud facility last year successfully secured a contract that included fair wage increases, 401(k) matching, paid maternity leave, time off to observe Juneteenth and religious holidays, hazard pay for those who worked during the COVID shutdown, reduced mandatory overtime and more. The workers’ contract win followed months of hard negotiating and numerous member-led actions, including rallies outside of the New Flyer manufacturing plant and an overwhelming strike authorization vote.

CWA also represents New Flyer workers at the company’s Crookston, Minn. plant and its Jamestown, N.Y. facility, where workers voted to form a union in August 2022.

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