On November 9, 2023, in Belvedere, Illinois, the United States, US President Joe Biden wore a T-shirt of UAW Local 1268 at a meeting of United Auto Workers (UAW) union members.
Leah Millis | Reuters
DETROIT — President Joe Biden said Thursday that all auto workers deserve contracts like the one the United Auto Workers recently won. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler parent company star.
Biden, who wore a red UAW T-shirt given to him by local union leaders, said the deal won by UAW negotiators was a “game changer” that set a “new standard” for blue-collar workers.
The agreements include a 25% pay increase, including an 11% increase upon approval; the restoration of cost-of-living adjustments; additional contributions for retirees; billions of dollars in new investments; and other benefits. The tentative agreement still must be approved by union members; a vote is underway.
“I’m kind of selfish in that I want all auto workers to get this contract,” Biden said during a visit with United Auto Workers President Sean Fein in Belvedere, Ill. “I have a feeling that U.S. auto workers The Workers’ Federation has a plan for this.”
Biden said he personally spoke with Stellantis North America chief operating officer Mark Stewart about a Belvedere plant that the company idled indefinitely earlier this year and expected to potentially close.
“I told my team, ‘Letting Strantis know about Belvidere is a top priority,’ so I called him and let him know personally that I thought it was a top priority,” Biden said.
UAW President Shawn Fain joins union members on a picket line outside the General Motors Willow Run Distribution Center in Belleville, Michigan, on September 26, 2023, as President Joe Biden Joe Biden ) spoke nearby.
Evelyn Hochstein | Reuters
Under the tentative agreement between the UAW and Stellantis, the plant is expected to return to production in 2027 to produce mid-size pickup trucks, and a year later, a $3.2 billion new battery business will be invested in or near the plant.
Strantis had no immediate response to comment on Biden’s remarks or visit.
Although this is Biden’s second event with Fein since the UAW launched a roughly six-week strike against the companies on Sept. 15, the union has not yet endorsed Biden for re-election. The first event was on September 26, when Biden walked a UAW picket line, making him the first sitting president to do so with the union. Biden’s support is declining, and multiple polls show he will face a tough re-election campaign against former President Trump next year.
Biden’s comments about all automaker contracts echoed Fein’s recent remarks about the next steps for the UAW to organize non-union auto plants, something the UAW has failed to do for decades.
Fein said he plans to use the record contract with the Detroit automaker, which still must be approved by members, to assist the union’s struggling organizing efforts elsewhere.
U.S. President Joe Biden waves after speaking about the economy and the agreement between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the three major automakers in Belvedere, Illinois, on November 9, 2023.
Olivier Doulieri | AFP | Getty Images
“We’ve created a good example of a threat and now we’re going to build on that,” Fein said Thursday night when discussing Stlantis’ tentative agreement. “We went on strike like never before and won a historic contract as a result. Now we will organize like never before.”
The UAW has previously failed to organize foreign automakers in the United States.Recently, American factories Volkswagen and Nissan Failure to gain the support needed to form a union. The UAW has previously discussed organizing Tesla’s The Fremont, Calif., plant received little impetus in these efforts.
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