Two of President Joe Biden ‘s top goals - fighting climate change and expanding the middle class by supporting unions - are colliding in the key battleground state of Michigan as the United Auto Workers go on strike against the country’s biggest car companies.
The strike involves 13,000 workers so far, less than a tenth of the union’s total membership, but it’s a sharp test of Biden’s ability to hold together an expansive and discordant political coalition while running for reelection.
“The president is in a really tough position,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “What he needs to be the most pro-labor president ever and the greenest president ever is a magic wand.” He dispatched top aides to Detroit to help push negotiations along, and he prodded management to make more generous offers to the union, saying “they should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts.”
Executives, however, are keen to keep a lid on labor costs as their companies prepare to compete in a global market. China is the dominant manufacturer of electric vehicles and batteries. “We’re at a really pivotal moment in the history of the auto industry,” said Sam Gilchrist, deputy national outreach director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said that “electric cars are going to be made in China,” not the United States, and he said “the auto workers are being sold down the river by their leadership.”“That’s not someone that represents working-class people,” he told MSNBC earlier this month. “He’s part of the billionaire class. We need to not forget that. And that’s what our members need to think about when they go to vote.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Dem Rep. Slotkin: Inflation Hurting Auto Workers Helped Set the Scene for Auto TalksOn Thursday's broadcast of CNN's 'Inside Politics,' Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) stated that 'the scene for these negotiations' | Clips
Read more »
United Auto Workers 'feel abandoned' by Democratic Party, former union president saysAs a UAW strike looms, the union's former president said that polices under Democratic Presidents Clinton and Biden have failed workers.
Read more »
Biden speaks with UAW president and auto companies ahead of possible strikePresident Joe Biden spoke with the president of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, and leaders from the major auto companies on Thursday night hours before the union was poised to announce whether it would engage in a historic strike.
Read more »
Arlington auto workers won't be called to immediately strike, union president announcesThe United Auto Workers union says it will go on strike at three factories as it presses Detroit companies to come up with better wage and benefit offers. But to the disappointment of many workers, that does not include the Arlington plant.
Read more »