President Joe Biden Backs Autoworkers on Picket Line in Michigan
Jose Nino
|
On September 26, 2023, President Joe Biden teamed up with striking autoworkers in Michigan to join a picket line, which made him become the first incumbent president to join such a demonstration. Such a move was a resounding demonstration of support for workers calling for higher wages.
Biden told the car workers who were outside of a General Motors facility that the major car companies were doing well.
“Guess what? You should be doing just as well,” Biden told the crowd, which drew applause from the crowd of workers.
“You’ve heard me say many times: Wall Street didn’t build this country,” he stated. “The middle class built this country. And unions built the middle class. That’s a fact. Let’s keep going. You deserve what you’ve earned, and you’ve earned a hell of a lot more than you get paid now.”
Shawn Fain, the United Auto Workers union president, invited Biden to the demonstration. Biden is in Michigan for electoral purposes given how the state is a critical battleground state in the 2024 presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump visited a neighboring county on September 27 to speak to current and former union members. Biden spoke for just several minutes prior to turning the bullhorn back to Fain, who was critical of Trump’s planned visit. Fain took executives and billionaires to task.
“They think they own the world,” Fain declared. “But we make it run.”
When Biden was asked whether the workers merited a 40% pay raise, he replied: “Yes. I think they should be able to bargain for that.”
Major automakers have long contended that wage increases above those already put forward could hinder their ability to compete as the industry transitions towards electric vehicles.
“Our focus is not on politics but continues to be on bargaining in good faith with the U.A.W. leadership to reach an agreement as quickly as possible that rewards our work force and allows G.M. to succeed and thrive into the future,” General Motors declared in a statement, emphasizing that “nobody wins” from a strike.
Overall, the Biden regime knows who will be its most loyal foot soldiers. They will come from the ranks of organized labor. Unions effectively function as shock troops for the managerial regime, as they intimidate productive workers and shake down productive companies.
Unions once served a purpose in protecting workers from the excesses of a once predatory form of corporate capitalism. However, they have long since abandoned that original mission of protecting workers from the excesses of the industrial era. Now, unions are parasitic economic entities that serve a nefarious political agenda.
Hopefully, decisionmakers grasp this and start devising policies that empower workers instead of union bosses.
Share: