U.S. President Joe Biden joins United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain in addressing UAW members picketing the General Motors Service Parts Operations plant in Belleville, Michigan, on September 26, 2023.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
DETROIT — United Auto Workers President Sean Fein stepped up his criticism of former President Donald Trump ahead of the Republican presidential candidate’s Wednesday night rally at a Michigan auto parts supplier.
In interviews with national media Tuesday afternoon after Fein appeared with President Joe Biden on a UAW picket line in suburban Detroit, the outspoken union leader denounced Trump’s record with the auto unions. He also criticized Trump’s visit to a non-union company called Drake Enterprises on Wednesday.
“I find it a sad irony that the former president would hold a rally for union members at a non-union business,” Fein said in an interview. Tuesday night CNN. “All you have to do is look at his track record – his track record speaks for itself.”
Asked whether he would meet with Trump during the visit, Fein said he saw “no point” in doing so “because I don’t think Trump cares at all about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for.” … He serves the billionaire class, and that’s what’s wrong with this country. “
In response to Fein’s remarks, a Trump spokesman generally criticized “the political leadership of some unions and the middle-class employees they claim to represent.”
“President Trump will be in Michigan to talk to union workers and make sure American jobs are protected. He has always stood up for American workers and will do whatever he can to advocate for them, just like the crooked Joe Biden stands up for us The same goes for foreign workers,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in an emailed statement.
Trump recently accused UAW leaders of failing their members. He also harshly criticized the timing of Biden’s visit to Michigan and the current administration’s support for electric vehicles (EVs).
“Crooked Joe Biden had no intention of visiting the UAW until I announced that I was going to Michigan to be with them and then help. In fact, Crooked Joe sold them on his ridiculous all-electric car Down the river.” Hoax,” Trump Published early Saturday on his social media platform Truth Social.
Biden, Trump visit presidential battleground states amid UAW strike General Motors, Ford and starThe two sides failed to reach a new contract before September 14. The strike currently involves about 18,300 workers, or 12.5%, of the UAW’s 146,000 automaker members.
Not endorsed by the UAW
In Saturday’s post, Trump, who won over many of the blue-collar workers who helped him win the presidency in 2016, also urged the United Auto Workers to support him, claiming that “if they don’t, auto workers will Here’s a toast.”
The UAW has declined to support the 2024 presidential election, although Fein denounced Trump and expressed support for Biden during Tuesday’s picket line visit. Fein said the union will continue to do so until the UAW’s concerns about the auto industry no longer exist. Addressing the transition to electric vehicles.
“Our focus right now is 100 percent on getting a good deal for our members,” Fein told CNN. “Things like endorsements, we’ll do those things in due course… There’s still work to be done. .”
Former US President Donald Trump makes a gesture during a rally in Warren, Michigan, USA on October 1, 2022.
Diernario Chiri | Reuters
For years, the UAW has focused on converting traditional auto workers to new jobs working on electric vehicles. A 2018 study by the union found that mass adoption of electric vehicles could cost the UAW 35,000 jobs. However, unions recently said that number could be lower.
Fein, who stood on the picket line with Biden at the Willow Run Redistribution Center, called the president’s joining of striking workers a “historic moment.” But he stopped short of formally endorsing the commander-in-chief for next year’s presidential election.
Fein invited Biden to join a UAW picket line just days after Trump announced he would skip the second Republican debate to hold a rally in Macomb County, Miss., home to a large population of blue-collar auto workers.
The UAW has no ties to Trump’s Wednesday rally. However, UAW members have previously attended and participated in Trump’s events in Michigan.
In 2016, when unions supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, United Auto Workers says According to an internal survey by the union, about a quarter of its 412,000 members support Trump.
Lordstown Heritage
UAW concerned about Fein’s comments about Trump Post online videos Criticism of plant closings, including GM’s decision four years ago to close its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant. The video includes a clip of Trump telling area residents in 2017 that the jobs lost in the area “are all coming back.”
“I’ll tell you, I was driving from the airport, across beautiful roads, and I was visiting some of these huge factories that had been incredible job creators. My wife, Melania, said, ‘What’s going on?’ I said ‘these jobs have left Ohio,'” Trump Said about July 25, 2017. “They’re all back. They’re all back. Back. Don’t move. Don’t sell your house. Don’t sell your house.”
Lordstown Motors employees Michael Fabian and Lordstown Motors employee Michael Fabian watch as President Donald Trump inspects Lordstown Motors’ 2021 Endurance Truck, an electric pickup truck, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., September 28, 2020. Rich Schmidt spoke next to him.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
The comments came before GM closed the plant, which Trump has publicly criticized. He asked GM Chief Executive Mary Barra to “sell it or act quickly.”
General Motors sold the plant to electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors, a decision Trump applauded. However, the company was unsuccessful and filed for bankruptcy in June.
The location of Trump’s Wednesday visit to Drake Enterprises, which has about 125 employees, “was chosen to host the former president because of the company’s entrepreneurial spirit and its knowledge of the gasoline engine business,” said one of the company’s The partner told reporters. Klein’s Detroit Business.
The rally is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET, an hour before the second Republican debate begins. Trump also skipped last month’s first Republican debate, choosing instead to release a prerecorded interview online with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
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