Joe Biden makes a historic visit to striking auto workers on Tuesday in Michigan, the northern US state at the epicenter of an unprecedented strike that affects three giants of the sector: General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
The campaigning Democrat will become the first sitting US president to participate in a picket line, in contact with workers. An electorate that Donald Trump plans to address the next day, also traveling to the region that is the cradle of this industry.
Historic strike
Joe Biden is presently attended by the Ford factories in the region, in the county of Wayne, or a dizaine de grévistes font le piquet mardi matin, entre panneaux demandant de “sauver le rêve américain” et un feu de camp près d ‘a tent.
For him, there is no doubt that the automobile workers union (UAW) should support the outgoing president.
By going there on Tuesday, the latter steals the spotlight from his Republican rival, who plans to go to the same state on Wednesday to court the manual workers, on whom he intends to base his reconquest of the White House. Enough to make this already historic strike an issue of political battle.
Donald Trump, who announced his trip before Joe Biden’s, also accused the Democratic president of copying him. And his spokeswoman Jason Miller described Joe Biden’s visit as “nothing more than a bad photo op.” But according to White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, the American president’s trip “is not at all” influenced by that of the Republican.
“The most unionist president in history”
For Joe Biden, the challenge is to demonstrate 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, who struggles in the polls and who is now measured on each trip by his physical condition, is walking on eggshells: the current social conflict could be very damaging to the American economy.
And the strike spread to automakers General Motors and Stellantis, due to a lack of progress in union negotiations, unlike Ford, where “real progress” has been made.
Joe Biden has publicly estimated several times that manufacturers should pass on their “record profits” to employees. Asked whether the president takes 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. “We do not engage in negotiations,” he added.
Donald Trump counts on the vote of the workers
Joe Biden has made his support for unions a hallmark of his tenure, and the UAW’s support for his candidacy in 2020 helped him swing Michigan in his favor when the state voted for Donald Trump in 2016. However, the The Democrat’s administration is one of the driving forces behind the auto industry’s historic shift toward greener vehicles.
The Republican’s hopes of returning to the White House rest largely on the same blue-collar votes he won in 2016 in key states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. On the Democratic side, however, we question the billionaire real estate magnate’s pro-union commitment.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump will speak in front of a factory that manufactures spare parts in Clinton Township, Michigan, according to his campaign team, just over 60 kilometers from where Joe Biden visited the day before.
For Tiara Conner, 30, also a striker in Wayne County, Trump’s arrival “is not a surprise, it is a good way to reinforce a trend. I just hope that he also comes for good reasons and to show us his solidarity.”
Source: BFM TV
