WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan on Tuesday to join United Auto Workers on the picket line in one of the most extraordinary displays of support a president has ever taken in the middle of a labor dispute.
Biden's trip comes after United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain invited Biden to the picket line in remarks Friday as the UAW ratchets up its strike against the nation's three largest automakers.
"Tuesday, I’ll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of UAW as they fight for a fair share of the value they helped create," Biden said in a statement. "It’s time for a win-win agreement that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with well-paid UAW jobs."
Further details about Biden's trip, including which striking site he will visit, remain unclear.
Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner to capture the 2024 Republican nomination, has said he plans to meet with striking auto workers in the Detroit area Wednesday in a push to court rank-and-file union members and other blue-collar workers for his 2024 run.
Biden faced pressure from progressives to join UAW workers on the picket line after Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Bernie Sanders and others each traveled to striking sites this week.
For the first time Friday, Fain publicly invited Biden to the picket line.
"We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line − from our friends and families, all the way up to the president of the United States," Fain said.
Biden faces a political tightrope with the UAW strike. He has decades of close ties with organized labor and said he wants to be known as the "most pro-union president" in U.S history. But Biden also wants to avoid national economic repercussions that could result from a prolonged strike.
Biden has endorsed UAW's demands for higher pay, saying last week that "record corporate profits, which they have, should be shared by record contracts for the UAW." But at the request of the UAW, Biden has stayed out of negotiations with Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis.
Fain extended the invitation after announcing plans to expand UAW's strike to 38 new sites across 20 states. He said the union has made good progress with Ford Motor Co. this week, but General Motors and Stellantis "will need some pushing."
White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said the White House "will do everything that we possibly can to help in any way that the parties would like us to."
A White House team led by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House adviser Gene Sperling was originally scheduled to visit Detroit this week. But the trip was scrapped after UAW's leadership made it clear they did not want help at the negotiating table.
He didn't do well with the rail strikers but I guess he's trying to redeem himself. But I prefer that over a President who's consistently against labor, like any Republican one would be.
I mean that's one way to put it, but at the end of the day, he isn't some manga anti-hero, he is a politician and politicians want to be elected.
I am pretty sure this is about the UAW's change of attitude that puts immense pressure on Biden, especially that they are withholding their endorsment for Biden until he "earned it". And of course Trump is also trying to suck up to the unions, so Biden has to step up his game.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/17/uaw-auto-strike-joe-biden-union/70884657007/
Hopefully they're smart enough to know that Trump would just endorse whichever side he could grift the most money from once in office.
I love it. Make the politicians work for our love until they help us lol. Seems to be working with Biden.
The IBEW itself applauds Biden's handling of the rail strikes https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid#:~:text=The%20IBEW%20and%20BNSF%20Railway,personal%20days%20to%20sick%20days.
Some other union member mentioned either in here or another thread that the IBEW is only one of 13 rail unions, and they're one of the most conservative ones, preferring lobbying Democrats over striking or using actual worker power. Their union officials also tried making deals earlier that the rest of their members rejected and didn't like, which they hinted at but seem to be down playing a lot in this statement naturally. That commenter said the Rail Workers United statement, which is a coalition of rank-and-file workers from among all the unions, has been a lot more scathing towards the White House's interference in the strike and negotiations even after they helped get them some sick leave.
Separately, it's not good that we set the precedent that power comes not from workers, but from up on high to be doled out at our rulers' whim. What happens when we get a conservative President next? They'll destroy the strike and we all just collectively shrug? People need to learn that power comes from numbers, a popular mandate, and withholding labor, not from back room deals secretly negotiated by higher up union officials, CEOs, and the President. Letting these actions continue builds relationships, trust, and solidarity among the workers that is important for future labor action.
There were a lot of external concerns with a strike too. The delays would have left some municipalities without water purification supplies. Delays in coal and gas would mean no electricity or heating in the middle of December
If he broke the strike just to make sure Christmas deliveries were made on time that would be unconscionable. Concerns over power and heating are more understandable.
Really this just shows this sector is so critical to the economy and our lives that it needs to be nationalized, and the workers deserve their demands as a minimum.
They never mentioned any of that stuff. They would always just gesture broadly at the "economy" which hints at Christmas deliveries.
Exactly.
It was certainly a concern that came up in articles and such, I remember city municipality workers talking about how their supplies wouldn't last through delays.
I certainly believe it though that it didn't come up in the politics, which is really unfortunate. Delays in gas and coal and chemicals aren't often thought about, and without considering that, breaking the strike is absolutely unacceptable.
I'm glad to see the public become overwhelming in favor of unions. At least partial nationalization should become more viable.