- Written by Sam Cabral
- BBC News, Washington
The United Auto Workers, the nation’s main labor union representing more than 400,000 workers, has endorsed President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
This comes after the 81-year-old Democrat joined UAW workers on picket lines last year, becoming the first sitting president to do so.
Mr. Biden is expected to face off against Mr. Donald Trump, who has a high approval rating among blue-collar voters, in the general election in November.
The UAW’s support may support his efforts to exploit that advantage.
The UAW endorsed Biden ahead of the 2020 election, but its new leadership declined last year to join other prominent unions in supporting his reelection. President Sean Fein said support in 2024 should be “earned, not given.”
But Mr. Fein said Wednesday that his membership, made up of mostly car and truck factory workers, will either vote for “someone who stands with us and supports our cause” or “will divide us and support us every step of the way.” He said he was forced to choose whether to vote for “someone who will fight against us.” ”.
“If we had to get our support, Joe Biden got it,” he said at the closing ceremony of the UAW’s three-day national convention in Washington, D.C.
“It’s great to go home,” Biden, who often calls himself the most pro-union American leader, said as he accepted the endorsement, wearing a UAW ball cap.
“I support you and I’m honored that you support me. It’s a deal,” he told the crowd of rank-and-file union members wearing red polo shirts.
In September, the president, with a bullhorn in hand, joined a strike by union workers at a General Motors parts warehouse in Detroit, Michigan.
The unprecedented show of support came as the UAW took on three major U.S. automakers, GM, Ford and Stellantis, all at once in contract negotiations, and staged individual strikes with little notice. .
The next day, Mr. Trump, who held an event at a non-union factory in Michigan, dismissed the incident as “nothing more than a PR stunt.”
But by November, union leaders brokered a historic new deal that included record wage increases and cost-of-living adjustments.
“You built these companies, you sacrificed to save them in the worst of times, and when these companies thrive, you deserve to benefit, too,” Biden said Wednesday.
“In this country, the days of workers being excluded from agreements are over.”
In addition to vocally supporting the right to strike and creating new organizing opportunities, Fein praised the president’s role in the negotiations, saying he “heard the call” and “joined us in solidarity.”
In contrast, he argued, the former president took actions that “destroyed labor unions” and “ruined America’s middle class.”
The UAW’s support could motivate members to vote for Biden, who has suffered from low approval ratings and is struggling to drum up enthusiasm for re-election.
This is especially true for workers concentrated in the auto manufacturing battleground state of Michigan, where Biden will need to narrow his opponent’s lead with working-class voters.
Biden defeated Trump in the state in 2020, but this year he faces a revolt from the state’s sizable Arab voters and many young voters over his stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict. are doing.
Foreshadowing these concerns about a possible election, Mr. Biden was interrupted by demonstrators demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a common occurrence at Mr. Biden’s public events.