In September 2023, Joe Biden became the first US president to visit a picket line in the Detroit, Michigan, area. Unsurprisingly, the United Auto Workers (UAW) is now endorsing him for the 2024 presidential election. "If our endorsement must be earned, Joe Biden has earned it," UAW leader Shawn Fain said in Washington on January 24 – in 2023, he had refused to automatically endorse the Democratic candidate. "This November, we can stand up and elect someone who stands with us and supports our cause," said Fain, who took aim at Biden's Republican opponent, Donald Trump. "Donald Trump is a scab," he declared. "Donald Trump is a billionaire, and that's who he represents. He did nothing, not a damn thing, because he doesn't care about the American worker."
Biden, wearing a cap with the union logo that day, repeated his credo on the subject. "I was so damn proud to stand on that picket line with you. (...) Look, I kept my commitment to be the most pro-union president ever. (...) Let me just say I'm honored to have your back and you have mine."
The stakes are key in the industrial states of the Midwest, where elections are decided by a hair, particularly in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as among Black voters, who are more unionized than others (11.8%). In 2016, Trump narrowly won these states. At that time, he received the highest union support for a Republican candidate since Ronald Reagan (president from 1981 to 1989).
Trump was furious that the UAW endorsed Biden. In his view, the Democratic administration's support for electric vehicles would destroy the US auto industry and encourage the offshoring of jobs overseas. "Shawn Fain doesn’t understand this or have a clue. Get rid of this dope & vote for DJT. I will bring the Automobile Industry back to our Country," he protested on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The next step will be to find out whether the UAW, with its effective negotiations, will succeed in gaining a foothold at Tesla, as it has at Asian and German automakers based in southern states where unionization rates are very low. To forestall the expected offensive, these companies have already raised wages, which is an indirect victory for the unions. "The fact is, you've transformed the entire auto industry that's not yet unionized – or, as we call that, the 'UAW bump.' Because of you, Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Tesla all gave their workers double-digit raises," Biden said.
The year 2023 was rich in action by workers' organizations. The UAW-led strike against Detroit's three historic automakers (General Motors, Ford and Stellantis) won employees a 25% raise, with a worker's wage peaking at $42 (around €39) an hour. The strikes by Hollywood writers and actors won them bonuses for streaming works and guarantees in the face of the rise of artificial intelligence. Another example is the strike by 75,000 healthcare employees working at Kaiser.
You have 45% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.