An unprecedented image, “historic” even according to the White House: by joining auto workers on a strike picket on Tuesday, in the key state of Michigan, Joe Biden wanted to show his support for the unprecedented social movement which is shaking the area.
Speaking with a megaphone to members of the auto workers union (UAW), the organization’s cap screwed on their heads, the American president recalled the “sacrifices” made by them in order to “save the industry ” during the 2008 crisis. They now deserve a “significant increase” in salary, he said.
He is the first sitting American president to go on a picket line.
Such presidential support in a social conflict, which pits the UAW against three giants of the sector — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — is a reminder of the proximity that Mr. Biden has cultivated during his career with labor unions.
It also underlines the importance that Michigan represents while the Democrat, campaigning for his re-election in 2024, could once again find himself facing his predecessor Donald Trump.
The president was eagerly awaited, a little earlier in the day, in front of the gates of the Wayne factory, where around ten strikers are on picket, between signs asking to “save the American dream” and a campfire near ‘a tent.
“It’s huge, it’s important support because he believes in what we are fighting for, it makes me very proud,” one of the strikers, Patrick Smaller, told AFP.
After a Ford factory, Joe Biden went to meet strikers in front of the Stellantis site in Belleville, not far away, where he was awaited by a small group of workers.
“I hope his coming and his support will help us, it shows businesses that we have the president’s support and with a little luck they will accept an agreement quickly,” said Kristy Zometsky, 44, nine of whom worked in this factory.
“That he takes a public stand and says he supports our cause is very important,” added Curtis Cranford, 66, who is running as a Republican, “because of immigration and abortion.”
By going there on Tuesday, Joe Biden steals the limelight from his Republican rival, who plans to go to the same state on Wednesday to court blue-collar workers, on whom he intends to base his reconquest of the White House.
Enough to make this already historic strike a subject of political battle.
Donald Trump, who announced his trip before that of Joe Biden, also accused the Democratic president of copying him. And his adviser Jason Miller called Joe Biden’s visit “nothing more than a poor photo op.”
For Joe Biden, the challenge is to prove that he is, on the contrary, the president of the working classes, defender of the unions and architect of the industrial renewal of the United States.
But the octogenarian, struggling in the polls and now gauged at each trip on his physical condition, is walking on eggshells: the current social conflict could prove very damaging for the American economy.
And the strike spread to the car manufacturers General Motors and Stellantis, due to lack of progress in union negotiations, unlike Ford where “real progress” has been made.
Asked whether the president was taking sides in the social conflict, the White House spokesperson preferred to avoid the questions, insisting that Joe Biden wanted above all a “win-win” agreement.
Joe Biden has made his support for unions a hallmark of his term, and the UAW’s support of his 2020 candidacy helped him swing Michigan in his favor, after the state had voted for Donald Trump in 2016.
However, the Democrat’s government is one of the driving forces behind the historic upheaval that the automobile industry is experiencing, towards more, more ecological vehicles.
“When he walks slowly pretending to be on a picket line, remember he wants to take your jobs and send them to China,” Donald Trump accused on Truth Social.
The subsidies for electric vehicles provided for in President Biden’s major climate plan (IRA) only apply to cars manufactured in North America.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump will speak in front of a factory that makes auto parts in Clinton Township, Michigan, according to his campaign team, a little more than 60 miles from where Joe Biden visited on Tuesday.
26/09/2023 21:48:06 – Belleville (United States) (AFP) – ©2023 AFP
