Amid ongoing negotiations between striking auto workers and Detroit’s three largest automakers, President Joe Biden appeared at a picket line in Belleville on Tuesday.
Speaking to UAW Local 174 picketers at the Willow Run Redistribution Center in metropolitan Detroit, Biden said unions “saved the auto industry” during the recession and helped build the American middle class.
“Wall Street didn’t build the country; the middle class built the country,” Biden said. “And unions built the middle class.”
Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the three manufacturers affected by the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike, failed to reach a contract agreement with the UAW by the original deadline of September 15. Among other demands, UAW members are hoping to secure a fresh contract with double-digit wage increases and eliminated labor levels.
The first plants to strike were workers at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio, and the General Motors Wentzville Assembly in Missouri. They were later joined by 38 other Stellantis and GM auto parts plants. called to strike after no agreement was reached until Friday.
Biden’s visit, believed to be the first by a sitting president to a strike site in up-to-date history, comes after both the trade union and the producers were called “reach a fair agreement” before the first deadline.
“I’ve been on a lot of UAW pickets when I was a senator — since 1973 — but I’ll tell you, this is my first time as president,” Biden told workers.
President Biden touts Philadelphia jobs and economy on Labor Day
Biden was joined by UAW President Shawn Fain, who invited the Democratic president and addressed the crowd after Biden’s speech.
“And so today, I just want to take a moment to stand with all of you, with our president, and thank the president. Thank you, Mr. President, for coming,” Fain said. “Thank you for coming to stand with us at this defining moment in our generation.”
Fain announced last week that more UAW-employed plants would continue to be called upon to join the strike if demands are not met. He said record profits by automakers require a commensurate augment in wages and benefits for workers.
“CEOs think the future belongs to them,” Fain said. “Today belongs to the working-class auto worker.”
Biden agreed.
“You deserve what you earn,” Biden said, “and you earned a lot more than you earn now.”
Fetterman joins striking UAW workers on picket line in Michigan
Other union leaders supported Biden’s visit, including AFL-CIO national president Liz Shuler, who said in a statement that Biden is “the most pro-union president in history.”
“Working people know [Biden] has our backs every day and understands that UAW members’ fight for a fair contract is deeply connected to the fight for the soul of our country,” Shuler said. “Together, we are organized to fight the corporate CEOs who have rigged the system against working people for far too long.”
Shuler is scheduled to visit the picket line in Michigan on Wednesday.
Just hours before flying to Detroit, Biden received a key endorsement for his 2024 re-election campaign from the United Farm Workers (UFW), which praised his record on labor issues, from COVID-19 relief for farmworkers to beginning the process of improving working conditions for farmworkers.
The campaign of 2024 Republican primary candidate and Biden’s presumptive opponent, former President Donald Trump, said in a statement that the visit to the picket line was “nothing more than a PR stunt” intended to distract Americans from “Biden’s disastrous policies.”
“The fact is that President Trump will be nominated and will defeat Biden because he is the only person who can stimulate the economy, secure our borders, and protect our communities,” the statement read.
Trump is planning his own visit to Michigan tomorrow, skipping the second GOP presidential debate to meet at a nonunion auto parts plant in Macomb County. Both the Biden campaign and Fain himself have spoke out against Trump’s appearanceafter Trump criticized Fain for “not doing a good job” representing UAW workers.
“Every ounce of our union is committed to fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” Fain said in an earlier statement..
While the UAW has not yet endorsed a presidential candidate in the 2024 election, Michigan’s importance as both a battleground state and the heartland of the auto industry makes the strike politically significant for candidates on both sides of the aisle.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was unable to join Biden, said in a statement that his visit was “historic” and a remarkable commitment to the American workforce.
“The President has committed to strengthening our workforce and economy by bringing jobs back from overseas, reversing the job-losing trends of the previous administration,” Whitmer said. “Since he took office, we have announced 36,000 auto jobs with President Biden’s investment, proving that it is possible to support working men and women while securing record-breaking economic development deals that will secure jobs and investment for decades to come.”
Biden was accompanied to Michigan by Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard. He was greeted at Detroit Wayne Metropolitan Airport by Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist and U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit).
Biden was asked by a reporter whether UAW workers deserved the 40% raise they were seeking in negotiations, to which he replied, “Yes! Yes, I think they should be able to bargain for it.”
In earlier remarks, Biden has referred to the collapse of the domestic auto industry in the early 2000s and said that “the fact is, you, the UAW — you saved the auto industry in 2008 and before. You sacrificed a lot. You gave up a lot of things.
“And companies were in trouble,” he said. “But now they’re doing incredibly well. And you know what? You should be doing incredibly well, too. It’s a simple assumption.”
Fain said he knew Biden would “do right by the working class.”
“This industry is our creation,” Fain said. “When we stop our work, we can destroy it.”
Michigan’s Progress is part of States Newsroom, a network of newsrooms supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) charitable organization. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. For questions, contact editor Susan Demas: [email protected]. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook AND Twitter.
