VISIT THE STRICKETS: Joe Biden took up the megaphone and expressed his support for the “picket line” outside a Detroit auto plant on Wednesday. Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / Reuters / NTB
DETROIT (VG) America’s auto workers have become wage losers. Now they are getting historic support from President Joe Biden. “Complete disaster,” rages Donald Trump.
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The auto workers in the United States are striking for higher wages and shorter working days. It is the first time that a sitting president, Joe Biden, is visiting the strikers. Donald Trump will visit Detroit to show support for the auto workers on Wednesday. Both Biden and Trump are trying to secure the support of the workers and the unions in Michigan, an important swing state.Show more
On Tuesday, the Democrats’ Joe Biden will visit the striking auto workers in “Motor City” Detroit in the decisive swing state swing state States in the USA where no candidate or party can easily count on a secure majority in the presidential election. The opposite of “tipping states” are “safe states”.Michigan. This is the very heart of America’s automotive adventure. This is where the car brand Ford comes from.
Now thousands of workers in the American car industry have gone on strike.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is demanding higher wages and shorter working days. The strike began on September 15, and last week it was extended to 38 factories in 20 states.
– You deserve a significant pay rise, says Biden to the strikers.
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DEMAND MORE: Autoworkers strike outside a Detroit auto plant. They demand higher wages. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / Reuters / NTB Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP / NTB Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP / NTB
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DEMAND MORE: Autoworkers strike outside a Detroit auto plant. They demand higher wages. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
The conflict between the union and the car factories General Motors, Stellantis and Ford has become the center of the rivalry between Biden and Donald Trump.
In many ways, the presidential campaign really starts here and now – with the auto workers in Detroit.
And once again the battle for the Rust Belt The Rust Belt The Rust Belt, formerly called the Steel Belt, is an area in parts of the north-eastern United States, the mid-Atlantic United States and parts of the upper Midwest. and the favor of the workers is decisive for who can become the next president of the United States.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
Biden and Trump, yes please
– We deserve to get what we ask for, says Jasemine Adams (34), who is sitting outside one of Ford’s car factories in Detroit.
She and her colleagues have set up tents, lit barrel fires and donned strike T-shirts. Usually Adams works here on the conveyor belt in the factory.
– I am grateful that both Biden and Trump are coming to support us, she says.
She does not want to say which of the two she likes best. Perhaps she is like many others here – a seesaw voter, who has not quite made up her mind.
STRIKE WATCH: This is the first time Jasemine Adams is on strike. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
Dropping another debate
It is the first time a sitting president has so clearly sided with the union in an ongoing strike, as Biden is now doing in Detroit.
But it doesn’t end there: On Wednesday, Donald Trump will come to Detroit to show his support for the auto workers. According to American media, he will gather 500 factory workers, plumbers and electricians for a large public meeting.
Trump’s meeting occurs on the same day that the Republican Party holds its second presidential candidate debate. Trump didn’t attend the first debate, he won’t attend this one – and he has said he will drop all future debates in the party.
NO NEW ELECTION CAMPAIGN: Trump visited one of Ford’s car factories in Ypsilanti, Michigan during the 2020 election campaign. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP / NTB
Despite the fact that he has been charged in four extensive criminal cases and risks a prison sentence, Trump is the favorite to run for office against Biden next November.
This week in Detroit shows that Biden and Trump now addresses the target directly against each other.
SUPPORT: Michele Thomas (67) and Bradley Hoth (66) are both retired, and used to be members of the UAW. – The trade union has saved our jobs. We must fight for them. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
“Complete disaster”
On its online forum Truth Social writes Trump that Biden is “killing the union” by insisting that the cars in the United States should be electric, and that he is giving up the car industry to China.
China is the world’s leading producer of parts for electric cars.
«He has been a complete disaster for all auto workers in the United States (…) Remember, he wants to take our jobs and give them to China (…). I will protect your job and make you rich!» writes Trump.
Biden, for his part, has referred to himself as “the most union-friendly president in the history of the United States”.
The union’s president, Shawn Fain of the UAW, has not yet come out publicly and supported the re-election of Biden. The UAW is critical of the electric car industry, which has not provided many jobs in the United States.
But he has come out very clearly against Trump. Fain has called Trump “a disaster” and the very symbol of why they are on strike – namely the billionaires who “steal” from the working class.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
“We believed in Trump”
Outside the Ford factory in Detroit, other industrial workers have rallied to support the strike. Tim Driscoll is head of the masons’ union BAC, and has traveled here from Washington DC
– It is phenomenal that Biden is coming, we have never had a visit from a president in the middle of a strike before. It signals a change, he says to VG.
YES TO BIDEN, NO TO TRUMP: Tim Driscoll is head of the masons’ union BAC, and is in the same umbrella organization as the car workers. Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
– Now supporting trade unions and workers is no longer something radical and partisan. When the company does well, the workers should also do well.
– What about Trump, is he also coming to visit those on strike?
– In 2016, we believed in him. He said he was going to “Make America Great Again.” But look what he did. He did not create new jobs, it was not “great”, says the union leader.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
Important seesaw
Trump narrowly won Michigan over Hillary Clinton in 2016 – after the swing state had been blue for six elections. In 2020, Biden won the state back with 150,000 votes.
Michigan is considered absolutely critical for the Democratic Party in the presidential election.
That is why it is so important for both Biden and Trump to try to secure the support of the workers and the unions.
The auto workers in the United States used to be one of the very best paid occupational groups in the entire country. But now they earn 30 per cent less than they did back in 2003 – while other occupational groups are experiencing real wage growth. Car workers find that they earn less than their parents or relatives who worked in the same industry.
The wage decline is happening at the same time as the car industry itself rakes in with money.
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Published: 26.09.23 at 19:00
Updated: 26.09.23 at 19:38
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2023-09-26 17:00:05
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