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.
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”.