Autoworkers have concluded a six-week strike, securing tentative agreements with Detroit's Big Three automakers—Ford (F), Stellantis (STLA), and General Motors (GM). The deals encompass increased pay for union workers and involvement in the EV transition.

Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman explores the potential aftermath of the strikes, including what it means for President Biden's reelection, heightened costs for automakers, and the prospect of UAW expanding unionization to non-union plants like Tesla and Volkswagen.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: The picket signs are down for now. The UAW has ended its six-week campaign of coordinated strikes after reaching tentative deals with the three big automakers in Detroit. Among other guarantees, workers will see higher pay and inclusion in the EV transition. But that transition has been costly, for both Ford and GM have recently scaled back investments.

In an effort to make EVs more attractive, car companies led by Tesla have cut prices significantly. The average EV price tag has fallen a staggering 22% from last year, according to Kelley Blue Book. So what do higher labor costs and lower price tags mean for the Detroit three autoworkers? Joining us now, we've got Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman to help us break this down a little bit more. Hey, Rick.

RICK NEWMAN: Hey, guys. A lot of implications from the end of this strike. I think clearly a win for the United Auto Workers and its members. So there are a lot of questions about what happens next. First of all, this went pretty well for President Biden. Remember, he went to-- he went up to Michigan and he walked a picket line and political analysts said, oh, risky move for a president to take sides.

Well, Biden seemed to have taken the right side in this, and that's going to give him some credibility during the election next year, because those-- you know, those states, Michigan and Wisconsin in particular, are swing states, and Biden can go there. And he said, look, I've been on the side of the unionized workers here for the start, from the start, I proved it by coming up when you guys were on strike, and vote for me. He's got a pretty good case there.

Now, we've got three Detroit automakers that are going to face higher costs. Ford estimated that this deal will add about $900 to the cost of producing a car in the United States with unionized labor. That is a lot. $900 on the-- added to the cost of a car-- I mean, automakers work like mad to trim the cost of a part by $0.25. So that actually puts the Detroit automakers at more of a cost disadvantage than they were before.

However, the union thinks they have a pretty good shot at unionizing some of the other automakers that do not currently employ unionized workers. Tesla is a big one out in California and down in Texas. There are many foreign-based automakers that have factories mostly in the South that are not unionized.

The UAW has tried before without success to unionize a couple of those, but there's a new mood in the country about unions. They are more popular than they have been in a long time, and probably some of the workers at those plants are saying to themselves, I would like to get paid what those UAW members in the upper Northwest working for the Detroit three are going to get paid. So there is a lot more to come on this.

- Speaking of that more to come, we've seen just this labor uprising in a variety of industries, Rick, and the UAW said they aim to target non-union auto plants in the US. Like, you know, you've talked about this, companies like Toyota, Volkswagen, and Tesla. What can you tell us about unionization efforts with regard to those and the targeting of those automakers?

RICK NEWMAN: You know, until this year, I mean, it seemed like unions really were just in long term decline, they weren't popular, and they were not likely to get any traction where-- I mean, look at what's been happening with Amazon. You know, workers trying to Amazon at union-- at Amazon places of employment, warehouses, and stuff like that. I mean, some want to do it, but it's not like there's a groundswell of support to do it.

That seems like it could be changing, and, boy, one of the things that could end up being quite dramatic is if there is a unionized-- a serious unionization effort at Tesla. Elon Musk is one of the most anti-union CEOs in America, and you have to wonder, what would Elon Musk do if the UAW tried to unionize his plant?

He is opening a plant, or he plans to open a new plant in Mexico-- and, by the way, this is another possible unintended consequence of when American labor costs go up. A lot of the automakers do have-- do have factories in Mexico where it is way cheaper to build stuff, and it would not be surprising if you saw more auto production going to Mexico. You know, a nearby country that is easy to ship stuff to and from. And could Tesla do that with some of the cars they build in the United States? I mean, we may be talking a couple of years down the road here, but I think some fascinating battles might be coming.

- Yeah, you're right. That would certainly be one to watch if Tesla would ever be unionized. I mean, I agree with you. We certainly know that Elon Musk has been anti-union, so we'll see if that even could take off.