Blue Cross Blue Shield employees march through the streets of downtown Detroit to address UAW members after a rally on the first day of the UAW strike in Detroit, Michigan, September 15, 2023 support.
Matthew Hatcher | AFP | Getty Images
President Joe Biden sends a team to help fix problems A strike between the largest U.S. auto workers union and the U.S. Auto Workers union Big three car companies An administration official told NBC News on Sunday that it planned to travel to Detroit “early this week” to support the talks.
White House counselor Gene Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su were appointed by the president last week to travel to Detroit to help. Ending the UAW strike union, starting early Friday. Sperling has served as the point person on key issues related to the union and the company and has been coordinating with Sue.
“Both Sperling and Acting Secretary Sue are in contact with both parties by phone and have been for several weeks, and they intend to get there earlier this week,” the official said, adding that the administration was “pleased that both parties continue to Meet like before the contract expires.”
The goal of Sue and Sperling is not to act as mediators or intervene, but to “help support negotiations in any way that the parties deem constructive,” the official said.
on Friday, Biden says he hopes UAW and Big Three Return to negotiation.
After the talks broke down, Biden said he understood workers’ frustrations because auto companies were making “record profits,” but “those profits, in my opinion, were not shared equitably with these workers.”
“Let’s be clear, no one wants to strike,” he said. “But I respect workers’ rights to use their own options under the collective bargaining system.”
The strike poses a special challenge for Biden, who has called himself “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.” While the United Auto Workers has historically supported Democrats like the president, former President Donald Trump won significant support from blue-collar auto workers.
Before announcing the strike, UAW President Sean Fein said the strike would force Biden and other politicians to choose sides on organized labor.
At midnight on Friday, about 13,000 UAW members walked out of the General Motors plant in Missouri, the Stellantis Center in Ohio and the Ford assembly plant in Michigan.
If every UAW member went on strike immediately, the union would have enough funds to cover approximately 11 weeks of strike pay.
Svlook
