On September 26, 2023, US President Joe Biden held a picket line outside the General Motors Willow Run Distribution Center in Belleville, Wayne County, Michigan, along with striking members of the United Auto Workers (UAW).
Evelyn Hochstein | Reuters
The UAW will support President Joe Biden for re-election this year, President Sean Fein announced Wednesday at a union meeting in Washington, D.C.
“Today, I am proud to stand with your International Executive Committee to announce the United Auto Workers’ endorsement of Joe Biden for President of the United States,” Fein said. “We will get Joe Biden re-elected.”
It’s no surprise that unions support the Democratic presidential candidate. However, this comes after months of apparent resistance from Fein, who said politicians including Biden must win the support of the United Auto Workers.
Earlier, Trump defeated former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary.
“This November, we can stand up and elect someone who will stand with us and support our cause, or we can elect someone who will divide us and fight us along the way,” Fein said before the endorsement. “That’s what this choice is about.”
Because of the UAW’s potential influence in the state, that support is crucial for any candidate hoping to win the battleground state. The Detroit-based union has more than 400,000 active members and more than 580,000 retired members, many of whom live in the state.
In endorsing Biden, Fein had some strong criticism of his likely Republican opponent, at one point setting up a slideshow showing “what Trump said and what he did to help American auto workers in his first term.” action”. The slide is blank.
“He’s done nothing, nothing, because he doesn’t care about American workers,” Fein said. “Donald Trump is against everything we stand for as a union and as a society.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
from the front line
Fein said in May that the union would The United Auto Workers union is holding off on endorsing Biden for re-election until its concerns about the auto industry’s transition to all-electric vehicles are addressed.
The message was heard loud and clear. In September, Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to join an active UAW picket line, rallying with workers outside factories. General Motors Parts Facility. The visit comes a week after Fein invited supporters – “from our friends and family all the way up to the President of the United States” – to join union pickets against GM. Ford and Chrysler parent company star.
Fein, who stood in line with Biden at GM’s Willow Run redistribution center, called the moment “historic.”
Months ago, the union staged about six weeks of targeted strikes against Detroit automakers after the two sides failed to reach a new contract covering about 150,000 autoworkers.
The strike ended in late October after the companies and unions reached a tentative agreement.
Fein claimed the agreements would help the union “just transition” to electric vehicles, noting that many battery plant workers would be included in the UAW’s national bargaining coverage.
On September 27, 2023, former U.S. President Trump spoke at an autoworker-centered campaign rally held at automotive supplier Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township, Michigan.
Michael Weiland/CNBC
Previous UAW leaders have endorsed Biden in the 2020 campaign against President Donald Trump. However, Trump particularly gained support from many blue-collar auto workers during his presidential campaign.
Michigan voters helped Biden and Trump win the White House in the past two presidential elections.
Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential race, held a rally at a non-union supplier’s factory in Michigan the week of Biden’s picket line visit.
Trump’s visits and rallies, which have focused on the auto industry, have been criticized by labor unions and Fein, who has repeatedly said he believes Trump’s re-election would be a “disaster.”
During the event, Trump repeatedly asked UAW members to encourage union leaders to support him.
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