Joe Biden makes history by joining UAW picket line
Allo Trends World
2023-09-27
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#englishnews #joebiden #uawstrike
News Article :-
US President Joe Biden has backed striking cars workers in Michigan during a visit to their picket line - a first for a sitting US president.
Mr Biden said that the workers "deserve" raises and other concessions they are seeking.
The visit comes a day before his would-be challenger, Donald Trump, is due to arrive.
But workers told the BBC they felt the rivals might politicise the strike, and urged them to "just stay away".
In brief remarks to the picketing workers on Tuesday, the Democratic president said that they "deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits".
He added that the workers should be doing as "incredibly well" as the companies that employ them.
Ahead of the visit, however, some workers sounded less than enthused about the visits.
"We would much rather neither of them showed up," one worker told the BBC. "We don't want to divide people and when you bring politics into it, it's going to cause an argument."
While US lawmakers - and presidential candidates - frequently appear at strikes to express solidarity with American workers, it is considered unprecedented for a sitting president to do so.
Earlier in September the UAW declared a strike targeting Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, pushing the three major car companies for better pay and conditions.
The White House, which was heavily involved in resolving a 2022 labour dispute with rail workers, was "not part of the negotiations", White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday.
Officials had previously refused to be drawn on whether Mr Biden supports the current UAW proposal, with Ms Jean-Pierre insisting the administration would "leave it to the UAW and the big three".
Mr Biden's presence in Michigan is instead intended to show support to the car workers, Ms Jean-Pierre said.
The president believes "that the men and women of the UAW deserve a fair share of the record profits they've helped to create", she added.
The White House announced Mr Biden's visit to the UAW workers last week, soon after Mr Trump announced he would skip the 27 September Republican presidential debate in California to visit Detroit, the heart of US vehicle manufacturing.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Mr Trump said he had provoked the presidential visit.
"Crooked Joe Biden had no intention of going to visit the United Autoworkers, until I announced that I would be headed to Michigan to be with them [and] help them out," he wrote.
Mr Biden was invited to visit the UAW members by the group's president, Shawn Fain, who has sometimes been critical of Mr Trump.
In his Truth Social post, Mr Trump - who has not been invited by the UAW - vowed that car workers are "toast" if they do not endorse him and if he does not win the election.
On the picket line in Michigan, word of the duelling visits was greeted by groans and "a lot of eye rolls", according to Billy Rowe, 61, one of half a dozen workers
News Article :-
US President Joe Biden has backed striking cars workers in Michigan during a visit to their picket line - a first for a sitting US president.
Mr Biden said that the workers "deserve" raises and other concessions they are seeking.
The visit comes a day before his would-be challenger, Donald Trump, is due to arrive.
But workers told the BBC they felt the rivals might politicise the strike, and urged them to "just stay away".
In brief remarks to the picketing workers on Tuesday, the Democratic president said that they "deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits".
He added that the workers should be doing as "incredibly well" as the companies that employ them.
Ahead of the visit, however, some workers sounded less than enthused about the visits.
"We would much rather neither of them showed up," one worker told the BBC. "We don't want to divide people and when you bring politics into it, it's going to cause an argument."
While US lawmakers - and presidential candidates - frequently appear at strikes to express solidarity with American workers, it is considered unprecedented for a sitting president to do so.
Earlier in September the UAW declared a strike targeting Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, pushing the three major car companies for better pay and conditions.
The White House, which was heavily involved in resolving a 2022 labour dispute with rail workers, was "not part of the negotiations", White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday.
Officials had previously refused to be drawn on whether Mr Biden supports the current UAW proposal, with Ms Jean-Pierre insisting the administration would "leave it to the UAW and the big three".
Mr Biden's presence in Michigan is instead intended to show support to the car workers, Ms Jean-Pierre said.
The president believes "that the men and women of the UAW deserve a fair share of the record profits they've helped to create", she added.
The White House announced Mr Biden's visit to the UAW workers last week, soon after Mr Trump announced he would skip the 27 September Republican presidential debate in California to visit Detroit, the heart of US vehicle manufacturing.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Mr Trump said he had provoked the presidential visit.
"Crooked Joe Biden had no intention of going to visit the United Autoworkers, until I announced that I would be headed to Michigan to be with them [and] help them out," he wrote.
Mr Biden was invited to visit the UAW members by the group's president, Shawn Fain, who has sometimes been critical of Mr Trump.
In his Truth Social post, Mr Trump - who has not been invited by the UAW - vowed that car workers are "toast" if they do not endorse him and if he does not win the election.
On the picket line in Michigan, word of the duelling visits was greeted by groans and "a lot of eye rolls", according to Billy Rowe, 61, one of half a dozen workers
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