Record auto profits should be used to address inequality and climate crisis | Shawn Fain and Ro Khanna

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis made billions of dollars over the past decade. Workers made those profits possible

The climate crisis and income inequality are the two greatest challenges facing our generation. Both are being determined in the union contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers Union and Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, known as the big three, which are all set to expire this Thursday night at midnight.

Shawn's grandparents migrated from the south during the Great Depression and landed jobs at Chrysler and General Motors in Indiana, altering the trajectory of his family, from destitute poverty to solidly middle class, in just one generation. Ro's parents immigrated from India to Pennsylvania seeking a better life where Ro grew up surrounded by families and factories employing once-high-income-workers to now sit in one of America's most powerful institutions. Both family stories reveal a common thread, binding together the promise of an American Dream.

Ro Khanna is a congressman from California

Shawn Fain is the president of the United Auto Workers