The United Auto Workers’ ongoing strike against Detroit’s automakers collides with presidential politics this week.
President Joe Biden echoes the UAW’s claim that workers deserve a larger share of the Big Three’s record profits after the union took cuts to keep the companies afloat during the Great Recession more than a decade ago.
White House officials say Biden — who bills himself as the most union-friendly U.S. president in recent history — is accepting the UAW’s invitation to meet with striking workers and walk the picket lines on Tuesday.
But the union has yet to endorse Biden, in part over concerns that his push for electric vehicles could cost their members jobs. Republicans see this as an opening to drive a wedge between the UAW and the Democrats they typically support.
Former President Donald Trump is planning a rally at parts supplier Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township on Wednesday. The current 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner will once again skip the Republican debate.
Trump claims concentrating on electric vehicles will “decimate” the U.S. auto industry.