President Biden picked up an endorsement from the United Auto Workers union Wednesday, an important boost to the Democratic president's reelection bid as he pushes to sway blue-collar workers his way in critical automaking swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin. "I'm honored to have your back and you have mine," Biden said to the cheering crowd, the AP reports. "That's the deal." Biden spoke as the union closed out a three-day gathering in Washington to chart its political priorities. Biden has long billed himself as the most labor-friendly leader in American history and went so far as to turn up on a picket line at a GM parts warehouse in the Detroit area during a UAW strike last fall.
The president is hoping to cut into the advantage that Donald Trump has enjoyed with white voters who don't have a college degree. Labor experts said that the UAW usually endorses candidates later as it has a mix of Democratic, Republican, and unaffiliated voters. "The days of working people being dealt out of a deal are over in this country as long as I'm president," Biden told the crowd. "I want to say to all of you thank you, thank you. I could not be more proud." Union President Shawn Fain had demurred even earlier this week, but on Wednesday said Biden had earned the endorsement, contrasting what he said was the president's obvious support with Trump's trash talk and anti-union stance, per the AP.
Fain called Trump a "scab," a derogatory term for workers who cross union picket lines and work during a strike. When the UAW went on strike against GM in 2019, Trump, then president, was silent, Fain said. "He said nothing. He did nothing. Not a damn thing because he doesn't care about the American worker," the union president said. Biden, by contrast, "heard the call and he stood up and he showed up." Among union members, support for Biden has varied from enthusiastic to uncertainty about whether to even vote in the election. Caroline Loveless, a retired UAW member in Iowa, said she would enthusiastically vote for Biden. She said his picket line appearance should remind union members that Biden is on their side. "I hope they don't get amnesia come Election Day," Loveless said.
(More
President Biden 2024 stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
