In support of the Michigan autoworkers’ demand for a 40% pay hike, President Joe Biden joined them on a demonstration on Tuesday (Sept. 26, 2023). He told them they deserved “a lot more” than they are currently receiving and should be paid “a lot more.”
The day before Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for president, addresses auto workers in Michigan, Biden makes his trip, the first presidential visit to striking workers in modern American history. Despite the fact that unions only represent a small portion of American workers, the unusual back-to-back events emphasize the significance of union support in the 2024 presidential election.
Democrat Biden traveled to a Belleville, Michigan, parts distribution center owned by General Motors (GM.N.) and joined dozens of picketers outside. “Companies were in trouble, now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too,” Biden said through a bullhorn. “Stick with it.”
He was referring to a 2009 government bailout of U.S. automakers that included wage cuts. “You deserve what you’ve earned. And you’ve earned a helluva lot more than what you’re getting paid now,” he said.
When asked if he agreed with the union’s demand for a 40% raise, Biden replied simply, “Yes.”
After speaking, Biden gave fist bumps to the audience and took photographs with them while the John Mellencamp song “Small Town” played in the background, flanked by Secret Service personnel.
On Wednesday, Trump will speak to a crowd of hundreds of workers at a meeting at an auto supplier in a Detroit suburb. An AFL-CIO representative said that the supplier, Drake Enterprises, is a nonunion firm. An inquiry for comments was not immediately answered by the business.
Republicans think Biden’s efforts to electrify America’s fleet of vehicles by funneling billions of dollars in tax breaks into EV production are unpopular with the industry’s workers.
Trump charged Biden of “stabbing” autoworkers in the back in a statement on Tuesday. The U.S. auto sector will “annihilate” under Biden’s EV mandate, he claimed, costing “thousands of autoworkers their jobs.”
Biden was met at the airport by UAW President Shawn Fain, who also gave him a baseball cap in black. He stood with Biden at the picket line as well.
Fain referred to Biden’s visit as a “historic moment in time,” and he charged CEOs with siphoning off profits while leaving workers to “fight for scraps.” Fain remarked, “We thank you coming to stand up with us, Mr. President.” We are confident that the president will stand up for the working class.
In order to support the “historic” presidential visit, the UAW also urged non-UAW employees to join neighborhood picket lines. According to a source, neither the union nor Fain will be present at the event during Trump’s visit.
