BluePerspectives

“Folks, Stick With It”: Biden Becomes the First US President to Visit a Picket Line

Joe Biden was the first US president to join a picket in support of union workers. He joined UAW members during their strike on Tuesday against the Big Three Automakers. Biden said […]: “The truth is that you guys, the UAW, saved the automobile industry in 2008 and even before,” Biden said.

 
On Tuesday, UAW President Shawn Fain and President Joe Biden spoke. AP Evan Vucci
Fight misinformation by subscribing to Mother Jones Daily’s completely newsletter and keeping up with important news. When Joe Biden joined UAW members on Tuesday during their strike against the Big Three automakers, he became the second president in US history to visit a picket line in support of union workers.
Biden told Michigan workers,” The fact of the matter is that you guys– the UAW– you saved the automobile industry up in 2008 and before.” ” Made a great deal of sacrifices.” sacrificed a lot. Additionally, the businesses were in trouble. They’re currently doing very well. What do you think? You ought to be doing fantastically as effectively. It’s an easy proposition, really.
” People, persevere with it.” While donning a UAW baseball cap, he said,” It’s time you deserve to get paid significantly and get another benefits.” Let’s recover what we lost.
In support of striking autoworkers, President Biden joins the UAW picket line in Detroit:
You merit the sizable pay raise you require as well as other advantages. pic. LPKBTpSWtw on Twitter
— September 26, 2023, The Recount(@ therecount )
UAW President Shawn Fain, a reformer who has steered the union more militantly since being elected earlier this year, joined Biden. The second time in our nation’s history that a US president who is currently in office has come out and stood on the picket line, according to Fain, is” a traditional moment.” ” In our fight for economic and social justice, our president has chosen to stand up with workers.”
According to Fain, the picket site in Van Buren Township previously contributed significantly to the” arsenal of democracy” by producing B-24 bombers during World War II. He described how a novel kind of war is being fought today. The enemy isn’t a foreign nation miles apart today, Fain said. It’s business greed, ideal here in our own neighborhood.
” The businesses were in trouble. They are currently performing extremely well. And what do you think? You ought to be doing fantastically as effectively. It’s a straightforward idea, Biden said. One day prior to Donald Trump’s speech at Drake Enterprises, a non-union parts manufacturer northwest of Detroit, the visit is made. Despite the fact that his administration has continuously violated the rights of union workers, Trump is attempting to portray himself as a supporter of autoworkers. He contends that by preventing the switch to electric vehicles, which he claims will” automatically” be produced in China, the auto industry will be preserved. Although it isn’t a long-term strategy, workers who are worried that the Biden administration’s EV push will harm union labor may find it appealing. Fain has criticized Trump’s visit, claiming that” every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the philanthropist class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers.”
Since the strike started earlier this month, Biden has reaffirmed the UAW’s demands, arguing that the record profits should” mean record contracts” for the organization. Fain criticized the Biden administration this summer for giving Ford and its South Korean partner, SK On, more than$ 9 billion in loans to build battery plants in the South without including provisions to protect union jobs, which led to the president’s support. The administration is attempting to demonstrate its commitment to a” just transition” to electric vehicles to the UAW, which has not yet endorsed Biden.
Biden vowed to be the” most pro-union” president in history before taking office. He broke with tradition on his second day in office by dismissing Peter Robb, the National Labor Relations Board’s public counsel during the Trump administration. In what is regarded as possibly his most significant action in support of organized labor, Biden replaced Robb with NLRB veteran Jennifer Abruzzo.
Biden vowed to be the” most pro-union” president in history before taking office. Later, he helped workers in Bessemer, Alabama, who were attempting to unionize an Amazon warehouse. At the time, Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian who oversees the University of California-Santa Barbara’s Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy, claimed that Biden had never supported an continued union drive.
However, Biden infuriated union supporters late next year by intervening to stop a rail worker strike. Lichtenstein wrote via email last week that” Biden’s rhetoric about being the most pro-union president since FDR is great, but not so critical, certainly not after his action on the rail strike.” ” If the UAW wins something significant in the coming weeks, he might actually seal the deal.”
Following the Obama administration’s bailout of Chrysler( now Stellantis ) and General Motors during the Great Recession, the UAW is attempting to reclaim the pay and benefits it forfeited in order to aid the recovery of the Big Three. A four-day work week, the right to strike over plant closures, key pay increases, a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments and defined-benefit pension plans, and an end to tiered wages that divide union members are all demands made by the union. Over the past ten years, the businesses have made$ 250 billion in profits, and the first half of this year saw an additional$ 21 billion profit.
When the Big Three and the UAW were able to come to an agreement before their four-year agreements expired on September 15, the strike started. At three Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis-owned plants, there were immediately about 13, 000 UAW members on strike.
According to UAW President Shawn Fain,” I see these CEOs try to justify a system where they take all the profit and the workers are left to fight for the scraps and survive paycheck to paycheck.” Ford has now made substantial concessions, such as agreeing to restore cost-of-living adjustments that protect workers from inflation, according to Fain, who said next week,” That’s got to end.” The UAW expanded the strike to 38 parts distribution centers owned by the two companies on Friday in response to the lack of progress at GM and Stellantis. About 5,500 UAW members work at the facilities, which are dispersed across 20 states from coast to coast.
In the past, the UAW has pushed the various two Big Three members to accept the first agreement after focusing on one of them. The union has never before targeted all three at once. Union leaders can increase the strike as necessary, save money, and keep executives guessing which plants will shut down next thanks to the new targeted strategy. Just about 18, 000 of the almost 150, 000 UAW members at the Big Three have so much struck. The factories that produce the pickup trucks that are crucial to the Big Three’s middle lines have not yet been targeted by the union.
Fain has made it evident that he sees the strike as a component of an even bigger conflict. ” I observe these CEOs attempting to defend a system in which they keep all the money while leaving the workers to struggle for scraps and live paycheck to paycheck.” That must come to an end. They assert that their uniqueness makes them deserving of the entire profit. What do you know? They are unique ,” he remarked as Biden observed. These CEOs are seated in workplaces. They participate in meetings and decide what to do. However, we produce the product.
 When Joe Biden joined UAW members on Tuesday during their strike against the Big Three automakers, he became the second president in US history to visit a picket line in support of union workers. ” The fact of the matter is that you guys– the UAW– you saved the automotive industry up in 2008 and when ,” Biden said. 

Joe Biden was the first US president to join a picket in support of union workers. He joined UAW members during their strike on Tuesday against the Big Three Automakers. Biden said […]: “The truth is that you guys, the UAW, saved the automobile industry in 2008 and even before,” Biden said.

 

President Joe Biden with UAW President Shawn Fain on Tuesday.Evan Vucci/AP

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Joe Biden became the first president in US history to visit a picket line in support of union workers when he joined UAW members on Tuesday during their strike against the Big Three automakers.

“The fact of the matter is that you guys–the UAW–you saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before,” Biden said to workers in Michigan. “Made a lot of sacrifices. Gave up a lot. And the companies were in trouble. Now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too. It’s a simple proposition.”

“Folks, stick with it. You deserve a significant raise and other benefits,” he said through a megaphone, while wearing a UAW baseball cap. “Let’s get back what we lost.”

President Biden joins the UAW picket line in Detroit in solidarity with striking autoworkers:

“You deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits.” pic.twitter.com/LPKBTpSWtw

— The Recount (@therecount) September 26, 2023

Biden was joined by UAW President Shawn Fain, a reformer who has taken the union in a more militant direction after being elected earlier this year. “This is a historic moment–the first time in our country’s history that a sitting USA president has came out and stood on the picket line,” Fain said. “Our president has chosen to stand up with workers in our fight for economic and social justice.”

Fain said that the site of the picket in Van Buren Township once played a key role in the “arsenal of democracy” by producing B-24 bombers during World War II. A new kind of war is being fought today, he explained. “Today, the enemy isn’t a foreign country miles away,” Fain said. “It’s right here in our own area: It’s corporate greed.”

“The companies were in trouble. Now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too. It’s a simple proposition,” Biden said.

The visit comes one day before Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at Drake Enterprises, a non-union parts manufacturer north of Detroit. Trump is trying to position himself as a champion for autoworkers, even though his administration consistently undermined the rights of union workers. He argues that he will save the auto industry by blocking a transition to the electric vehicles that he says will “automatically” be made in China. It’s not a serious longterm strategy, but it has the potential appeal to workers concerned that the Biden administration’s EV push will hurt union labor. Fain has been critical of Trump’s visit, saying that every “fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers.”

Biden has echoed the UAW’s demands since the strike began earlier this month, arguing the record profits should “mean record contracts for the UAW.” The president’s support came after Fain criticized the Biden administration this summer for awarding more than $9 billion in loans for Ford and its South Korean partner, SK On, to build battery plants in the South without including provisions to protect union jobs. The administration is pushing to show the UAW, which has not yet endorsed Biden, that it is committed to a “just transition” to electric vehicles.

Before taking office, Biden pledged to be the “most pro-union” president in history. On his first day in office, he broke with precedent by firing Peter Robb, the Trump-era general counsel at the National Labor Relations Board. Biden replaced Robb with NLRB veteran Jennifer Abruzzo in what is seen as perhaps his most important move in support of organized labor.

Before taking office, Biden pledged to be the “most pro-union” president in history.

He later supported workers trying to unionize an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian who leads the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy at the University of California-Santa Barbara, said at the time that Biden’s backing of an ongoing union drive hadn’t happened in his lifetime.

Still, Biden frustrated union supporters late last year by stepping in to block a strike by rail workers. “Biden’s rhetoric about being the most pro-union president since FDR is fine, but not so important, certainly not after his action on the rail strike,” Lichtenstein said via email last week. “He could in fact seal the deal if the UAW wins something decisive in the next few weeks.”

The UAW is seeking to regain pay and benefits they gave up to help the Big Three recover after the Obama administration bailed out Chrysler (now Stellantis) and General Motors during the Great Recession. The union is pushing for: an end to tiered wages that divide union members; major pay increases; a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments and defined-benefit pension plans; a four-day work week; and the right to strike over plant closures. The companies have made $250 billion in profits over the past decade and recorded an additional $21 billion in profit during the first half of this year.

The strike began when the Big Three and the UAW were unable to reach a deal before their four-year agreements expired on September 15. Roughly 13,000 UAW members at three plants owned by Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis initially went on strike.

“I see these CEOs try to justify a system where they take all the profit and the workers are left to fight for the scraps and live paycheck to paycheck,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “That’s got to end.”

Fain said last week that Ford has now made significant concessions, such as agreeing to restore cost-of-living adjustments that protect workers from inflation. On Friday, the UAW responded to the lack of progress at GM and Stellantis by expanding the strike to 38 parts distribution centers owned by the two companies. The facilities, which are spread across 20 states from coast to coast, employ about 5,500 UAW members.

In the past, the UAW has targeted one member of the Big Three then pushed the other two to adopt the initial agreement. This is the first time that the union is targeting all three at once. The new targeted strategy allows union leaders to expand the strike as needed, preserve funds, and keep executives guessing about which plants will go offline next. In total, only about 18,000 of the roughly 150,000 UAW members at the Big Three have struck so far. The union has yet to target plants that make the pickup trucks that are essential to the bottom lines of the Big Three.

Fain has made clear that he sees the strike as part of a much larger struggle. “I see these CEOs try to justify a system where they take all the profit and the workers are left to fight for the scraps and live paycheck to paycheck. That’s got to end. They say they deserve all the profit because they say they’re different. You know what? They are different,” he said as Biden looked on. “These CEOs sit in their offices. They sit in meetings and they make decisions. But we make the product.”

 

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