WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan on Tuesday to join United Auto Workers on the picket line in one of the most extraordinary displays of support a president has ever taken in the middle of a labor dispute.
Biden’s trip comes after United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain invited Biden to the picket line in remarks Friday as the UAW ratchets up its strike against the nation’s three largest automakers.
“Tuesday, I’ll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of UAW as they fight for a fair share of the value they helped create,” Biden said in a statement. “It’s time for a win-win agreement that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with well-paid UAW jobs.”
Further details about Biden’s trip, including which striking site he will visit, remain unclear.
Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner to capture the 2024 Republican nomination, has said he plans to meet with striking auto workers in the Detroit area Wednesday in a push to court rank-and-file union members and other blue-collar workers for his 2024 run.
Biden faced pressure from progressives to join UAW workers on the picket line after Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Bernie Sanders and others each traveled to striking sites this week.
For the first time Friday, Fain publicly invited Biden to the picket line.
“We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line − from our friends and families, all the way up to the president of the United States,” Fain said.
Biden faces a political tightrope with the UAW strike. He has decades of close ties with organized labor and said he wants to be known as the “most pro-union president” in U.S history. But Biden also wants to avoid national economic repercussions that could result from a prolonged strike.
Biden has endorsed UAW’s demands for higher pay, saying last week that “record corporate profits, which they have, should be shared by record contracts for the UAW.” But at the request of the UAW, Biden has stayed out of negotiations with Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis.
Fain extended the invitation after announcing plans to expand UAW’s strike to 38 new sites across 20 states. He said the union has made good progress with Ford Motor Co. this week, but General Motors and Stellantis “will need some pushing.”
White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said the White House “will do everything that we possibly can to help in any way that the parties would like us to.”
A White House team led by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House adviser Gene Sperling was originally scheduled to visit Detroit this week. But the trip was scrapped after UAW’s leadership made it clear they did not want help at the negotiating table.
As a Democrat who voted for Biden because he didn’t want to see fascism, but was very sore about doing so because Biden is a milquetoast moderate at best…
This is sick. Props.
Ditto
I might actually vote for him if he does this
Otherwise what, you’re voting for Trump?
Nah not voting for Biden. It doesn’t matter anyway. Blue state and all that
What about the down ballot races? And honestly, your choice is trump or no trump. Not voting for Biden is pretty close to accepting fascism because you didn’t get your perfect candidate.
Lol. I consider Biden the accelerationist choice.
That would be trump
Interesting I hadn’t considered that
Vote anyways, dude. If you’re in a blue state, it’s probably super easy, barely an inconvenience.
He sold out the rail unions not even a year ago
The railroad guys got dealt a realllllllllly shitty hand with that one.
Nope, he got them their sick days. He kept the pressure on even after imposing the contract. Directly from the IBEW union:
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
Yeah…
Biden isn’t pro union. He’s pro-re-election.
I’m glad he’s going out there to support the workers. But let’s not look past the fact that Biden forced the rail union to get fucked in the ass.
I’m totally OK with pro-re-election as long as he sees the direction the winds are blowing. They aren’t blowing towards conservatism or neo-liberal economic policy, even if that’s where he stands. Meanwhile most of the republican candidates in the primary are saying how greedy the workers are… I’ll take Biden. He’s not my first choice, and I don’t even like his political position on almost anything, but he is doing far better than I expected.
The day after the general election the direction of those winds will change, they always do
I doubt it. Biden is nothing if not a party man. I’m certain he wants his legacy to be that he brought the democratic party into new strength. He’ll accomplish that by pushing for more progressive policy that actually helps people. Will he fully go against corporate interest over people? Of course not. He won’t be as bad as you’re implying though.
He’s doing the same thing Obama did in his third year, sounding progressive as hell with lots of populous talk, gets reelected and turns full on corporate owned neolib.
Biden was pushing for unions before the current pro-union zeitgeist bubbled up, which I think started with the first Starbucks successfully unionizing at the end of 2022. The CHIPS act and IRA both required recipients to employ unionized labor.
First Starbucks unionization in that movement was Dec 2021, not end of 2022.
I ain’t a Joe Biden fanboy, but I would like to say if Bernie got elected president and he did this then the streets would go wild. This is insanely (good) that a president is showing so much solidarity and support to striking workers. This gets eyes and ears about the UAW strike, people see this support, they become emboldened, and now start thinking, “Hey, maybe we should strike or unionize…”
This is such a huge win for America and leftism in general. Let’s Go Dark Brandon
Very true. I see Biden as just another neoliberal capitalist, but tbh this is very good to see. Unions are great for society and the working class, and to see a president openly support this is great to see.
As a liberal, centrist, capitalism friendly Democrat…
UNIONS👏ARE👏GOOD👏FOR👏THE👏ECONOMY
Careful, advocating for a market economy will get all the down votes on lemmy.
Yeah. He sure showed solidarity when he broke up the train strike…
Yes, he stopped the train strike. He then worked with the rail unions for weeks negotiating with the bosses and now the rail workers have the sick days that was one of the big drivers of them going on strike for. Here’s the statement straight from the IBEW.
They literally thank Biden’s administration directly for applying pressure in the weeks after blocking the strike that eventually led to the union getting what it was asking for. I’m no big fan of Biden’s, but trying to paint him as anti labor especially using him blocking the rail strike is just patently untrue. With everything that’s been happening around Biden’s NLRB under Lina Khan he is easily the most pro worker president we’ve had in decades.
Wow legit had no idea about this, guess the story wasn’t as sexy 🤷♂️ thank you for sharing
Unfortunately he followed the law. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 prevents railroad workers from striking. They instead have to follow the exact process that was followed and continue working while in negotiation. As a rail worker, to go on strike is to quit your job.
Edit: After rereading, the RLA 1926 will allow for “self-help” remedies after a minimum of 60 days have elapsed from the time the National Mediation Board begins it’s process. This allows 30 days of NMB mediation, followed by 30 days for a Presidential Emergency Board investigation, either of which can be extended and with the caveat that
The NMB can keep the parties in mediation indefinitely, so long as it feels there is a reasonable prospect for settlement.
Bernie would have stood with the rail workers as well. This is makes his current stand seem less sincere and more like a photo op.
Take a look at some of the top voted comments, Biden ended up getting the rail works what they were asking for 2 weeks later
He did do that. I feel like there were some behind the scenes stuff where he had to do that.
Was coming here to complain about this compared to the rail strike - found out that Biden actually got the rail strikers what they wanted in this thread.
Now I’ve got to complain something else. Hmmm, how about how Biden isn’t proud of his union support. Make noise! Show that unions actually work! Stop acting like unions winning is something is something that you should be ashamed of and hide. Good, still got to complain about something.
This is great to see!
Biden may not be a progressive as an individual but his administration’s agenda is easily the most progressive of my lifetime–and I was old enough to vote for Obama twice. It would be even more so if Congress gave him progressive bills to sign, too!
So far the biggest positive story of 2023 is the massive increase in labor action across multiple industries.
I’m about the same age as you. It’s not saying much to be the most progressive administration of our lifetime. We haven’t had any progressive administration. Obama wasn’t bad, but it’d be a stretch to call it progressive. It did boost Healthcare some, and it helped LGBTQ+ rights, but not much else. Pretty much every republican has been regressive though.
I feel like I voted for Bernie instead of Biden. Wtf is going on. This is amazing.
Perhaps the man’s turned a new leaf in his old age. He ain’t perfect, sure, but I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t far better than I (or most others) had expected.
This is less about Biden coming to his senses, at the end of the day, Biden does what is politically viable and smart for him. Sure, maybe he has become more progressive, but I think this has more to do with the UAW new militant approach.
And one important thing, which puts a lot of pressure on Biden, is that the UAW has recently always endorsed the democrats, but they now have withheld endorsment for Biden until “he has earned it” and “prooves his solidarity with the working class, not the billionaire class”.
And Trump is also trying to pander to the union, so Biden is in a lot of pressure to gain the union’s endorsment.
I think that whatever the reason is, though, we can accept this as a very good thing. The power of the presidency extends beyond the strict executive authority provisions, and we should support whenever that power is used to advance the interests of middle and working class people.
Absolutely, this is a good thing. The only reason why I mention it is so that people remember to keep up the pressure and don’t just start to blindly trust Biden to “do the right thing” all by himself. Biden needs “encouragement” and if he doesn’t get it from the unions, he will get it from some industry lobby.
I fear the politician who has never changed their mind more than the one who has. It’s a really important skill to be able to accept your beliefs were wrong and adapt with new information.
Biden has been the most progressive president in my lifetime, and that’s because the party has moved leftward too.
Remember rail strike?
You mean when he in the three months afterwards helped the workers and the union to make sure they got their demands, while also not causing an actual rail shutdown that would cause massive harm to multiple areas?
See if that’s true that’s sad because that is the best possible outcome and I haven’t heard a damn thing about it.
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“Without making a big show of it, Joe Biden and members of his administration in the Transportation and Labor departments have been working continuously to get guaranteed paid sick days for all railroad workers."
I’m glad yo hear that not everything has to be a show, but this would be a great message to get out to the progressive democrats
I’m a bit torn on it. Yes it would be good to publicize, but I really like that he prioritized getting shit done over publicizing it. That’s what good leaders should do.
Arguably, this is something that progressive Democrats should be aware of if they truly care about the issue, and aren’t just looking for talking points.
Here’s an article on it: https://www.axios.com/2023/02/09/white-house-biden-administration-railroad-companies-paid-sick-leave
Wow he ended Precision Scheduled Railroading? Didn’t hear that /s
He got them some sick days, but definitely not the whole of their demands.
Plus the original demand was 15 days of sick leave, and then a tepid 7-day sick leave proposal was sent to die in congress. It’s not a miracle that Biden was able to get 5 days. Breaking the strike with state power and then casting crumbs in our direction was a flex on the working class saying “nah you’ll only get what we allow you to have. You don’t deserve to demand shit.”
I’m not holding out any hope that this is anything more than a PR campaign like kneeling cops and kente scarves.
It’s a complete failure of his administration that he said absolutely nothing about this and just allowed everyone to believe that he was against those workers for months.
I found this out a week or so ago and it baffled me that he just said nothing.
It’s been a general thing that his administration has just done the positive things without hyping them up or crowing about them on the news.
He learned nothing from Trump when that’s the one lesson Trump should have taught him: Brag.
I mean… Trump didn’t get re-elected. So you could argue that it didn’t help.
Maybe I’m uninformed, but how are rail strikes, which are common in my country, massive harm that a government of half a continent feels the need to step in?
It was going to be a massive rail strike in a situation where logistics were already strained. The US is run by rail, despite how little we invest into it. It’s an absolutely massive amount of land area, and the only reasonable way to transport things across it is rail. It would have crippled almost every business.
That said, if the workers are that important they should get everything they demand. The Biden administration did get them some of their demands, which is better than I expected, they should get more.
Are you talking about passenger rail strikes or freight? Because in the States, we have no meaningful passenger rail, but our geographical area is SO enormous that freight rail is critical. It makes up like 40% of all freight transport. So shutting the entire thing down would have been more than an inconvenience. It could have cost a lot of other people in other industries their jobs. Also, it could have caused shortages of food, gasoline, chemicals for purifying water, etc.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/looming-rail-strike-would-take-a-major-toll-on-u-s-economy
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/3644798-how-bad-would-a-rail-strike-have-been/
They aren’t as common here and this was a rail strike that could prevent the transportation of any number of important things, enough to impact multiple states and millions of people.
Some people like strikebreaking for its own sake and will make up any excuse to do it.
Watch the news for whining about high car prices from people who were fine with high car prices a few weeks ago.
Yep, I’ll remember this too.
People are measured by the sum of their actions.
I’m happy this is happening, and was unhappy that went down how it did.
No, which is the problem.
Yeah wouldn’t trust him on this. He definitely not on the side of workers.
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Not doubting you, but got any links? Like you said, there wasn’t any real coverage to speak of, so I was completely unaware of this.
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You think he’s just going to steal their snacks?
Like Bill Clinton at McDonald’s.
Beat me to it! Fuck these fucking fucks.
They worked to get what the Union asked for and the Union thanked them for it.
Labor costs, at roughly 5%, remain a small percentage of annual costs for the Detroit automakers
Source - CNBC and Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at The Center for Automotive Research
“We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line − from our friends and families, all the way up to the president of the United States,” Fain said.
“Guys, I was being rhetorical, now what are we supposed to do?”
A couple of my friends had the president visit the military base they were stationed at. They said it was by far the worst week of their military career. All the security, and the security for the security, and the security theater on top of those so nobody could think they’re taking it less than 150% seriously.
And the cleaning. Oh, the cleaning. Basic training has nothing on the minute bullshit “mess” that you can get in trouble for when the president is visiting in 2 days.
I had the vice president and most of the the cabinet visit my workplace once in the military years back.
To give you an example of the level of inanity, we took an “emergency” wrench off the wall where it had been bolted for 20 years, painted behind it, the rebolted it it the wall, hiding the paint job we just did. We then painted over the front of the wrench, a wrench that should not have been painted.
The VIPs? Walked through our workplace without stopping. They were there for roughly 20 seconds, never broke their stride. Largely, they just looked bewildered.
On the plus side, I got to evil eye a shitty VP, Secretary of state and Secretary of defense, so that was fun.
Evil? Cheney?
You gave the dark lord the evil eye and lived to tell the tale? Preposterous.
… Why?
If I was president on a military base I’d sort of expect it to look prepped for war, not mass surgery
My understanding of military people is that you make things Correct™. Full stop. Perfectly made beds and shiny toilets is what war readiness looks like.
Probably attention to detail and the like. “Messy” is sloppy, and not ready. “Disorganized”.
President Joe Biden has genuinely been one of the more pro-labor presidents in American history. While I strongly disagree with how he handled the rail strikes, the policy coming from his NLRB and the way he’s been handling the auto strikes I think are a strong indicator of the policy that he stands for. The United States presidency has an extremely poor track record when it comes to working with labor, and I’ll take whatever progress I can get.
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The ibew is one of the more conservative of the 13 separate rail unions, whose strategy involves lobbying Democrats instead of organizing. So of course they’re going to praise Biden. My own union isn’t as bad, but also throws praise at Biden even tho his administration was a negative influence on our negotiations. For a better view of rail labor, I’d listen to Railworkers United, a caucus of rail workers across all 13 separate unions to pressure the unions to work together and demand more for members. https://myemail.constantcontact.com/RWU-Issues-Official-Statement-on-PEB--250.html?soid=1116509035139&aid=Bt3zn_HU0ik
Biden was a bad influence on West Coast longshore negotiations. As our negotions started, he had both the ILWU president and the employer’s representative onto the battleship Iowa to pledge to not prepare for a strike. The union did not prepare for a strike, but the shippers diverted a huge amount of cargo away from the West Coast thru the Panama Canal. Granted, a West coast longshore strike stops 40% of US imports. But removing the threat means the employers have zero incentive to budge.
American auto companies: “Fuck.”
No other politician has learned and evolved like President Joe Biden (Dark Brandon FTW) has. He’s cool AF
He didn’t do well with the rail strikers but I guess he’s trying to redeem himself. But I prefer that over a President who’s consistently against labor, like any Republican one would be.
I guess he’s trying to redeem himself
I mean that’s one way to put it, but at the end of the day, he isn’t some manga anti-hero, he is a politician and politicians want to be elected.
I am pretty sure this is about the UAW’s change of attitude that puts immense pressure on Biden, especially that they are withholding their endorsment for Biden until he “earned it”. And of course Trump is also trying to suck up to the unions, so Biden has to step up his game.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/17/uaw-auto-strike-joe-biden-union/70884657007/
And of course Trump is also trying to suck up to the unions, so Biden has to step up his game.
Hopefully they’re smart enough to know that Trump would just endorse whichever side he could grift the most money from once in office.
I love it. Make the politicians work for our love until they help us lol. Seems to be working with Biden.
The IBEW itself applauds Biden’s handling of the rail strikes https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid#:~:text=The IBEW and BNSF Railway,personal days to sick days.
Some other union member mentioned either in here or another thread that the IBEW is only one of 13 rail unions, and they’re one of the most conservative ones, preferring lobbying Democrats over striking or using actual worker power. Their union officials also tried making deals earlier that the rest of their members rejected and didn’t like, which they hinted at but seem to be down playing a lot in this statement naturally. That commenter said the Rail Workers United statement, which is a coalition of rank-and-file workers from among all the unions, has been a lot more scathing towards the White House’s interference in the strike and negotiations even after they helped get them some sick leave.
Separately, it’s not good that we set the precedent that power comes not from workers, but from up on high to be doled out at our rulers’ whim. What happens when we get a conservative President next? They’ll destroy the strike and we all just collectively shrug? People need to learn that power comes from numbers, a popular mandate, and withholding labor, not from back room deals secretly negotiated by higher up union officials, CEOs, and the President. Letting these actions continue builds relationships, trust, and solidarity among the workers that is important for future labor action.
There were a lot of external concerns with a strike too. The delays would have left some municipalities without water purification supplies. Delays in coal and gas would mean no electricity or heating in the middle of December
If he broke the strike just to make sure Christmas deliveries were made on time that would be unconscionable. Concerns over power and heating are more understandable.
Really this just shows this sector is so critical to the economy and our lives that it needs to be nationalized, and the workers deserve their demands as a minimum.
They never mentioned any of that stuff. They would always just gesture broadly at the “economy” which hints at Christmas deliveries.
Really this just shows this sector is so critical to the economy and our lives that it needs to be nationalized, and the workers deserve their demands as a minimum.
Exactly.
It was certainly a concern that came up in articles and such, I remember city municipality workers talking about how their supplies wouldn’t last through delays.
I certainly believe it though that it didn’t come up in the politics, which is really unfortunate. Delays in gas and coal and chemicals aren’t often thought about, and without considering that, breaking the strike is absolutely unacceptable.
I’m glad to see the public become overwhelming in favor of unions. At least partial nationalization should become more viable.
This is good for him but I feel like his secret sevice detail will be stressed to the gills by this.
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Didn’t biden just sign anti labor legislation to stop the rail worker strike?
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/
Not sure if we should start lining up to blow him quite yet about this kind of issue. But I’m not familiar enough to fully comment. I’m sure lemmings will line up to tell me why I’m wrong about this…
Supposedly he signed that, then turned around and demanded the sick days:
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
He still took rights away from the workers.
I’m sure lemmings will line up to tell me why I’m wrong about this…
Is this a bad thing? If you’re wrong, it’s good to be corrected.
I’ve found lemmy to be the single most toxic malicious place on the internet I’ve ever been and every time I post I literally cringe waiting for the horde to attack. I’m probably closing my account soon tbh because I can’t take it anymore. For the record I like being wrong because it means I’m about to learn something new. But around here I was expecting fifty downvotes and a bunch of replies saying FUCK YOU CORPORATE BOOTLICKER SCUM, words to that effect.
And of course, you got called out through no fault of your own, right? If you don’t want to be called a bootlicker, stop licking boots…
Yup, there it is 🙄
Fair enough. The userbase here is much more toxic than reddit.
Elections are around the corner.
He broke the rail strike, then made a big song and dance about sick days as if that was the only thing rail workers needed to strike over.
Fucked over workers and pissed all over their broad set of grievances and demands.
I don’t think he should be welcomed.
Well I am glad he didn’t stop fighting along side them and get them what they wanted.
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