Shawn Fain, president of the Common Auto Workers, speaks to the crowd during a UAW rally in Detroit, on Sept. 15, 2023.
Emily Elconin | Bloomberg | Getty Counterparts
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on Friday invited President Joe Biden to join the picket business as striking workers expanded their walkout to dozens more General Motors and Stellantis facilities.
“We invite and egg on everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line from our friends and families all the way up to the president of the United States,” Fain pronounced during a Facebook Live stream.
“We invite you to join us in our fight,” the union boss said.
Fain made enthusiastic on his promise to expand the strike if “serious progress” wasn’t made by noon ET on Friday in talks with the automakers.
The society boss announced workers would strike at every parts and distribution facility run by General Motors and Stellantis. The walkout whim hit 38 locations across 20 states in nine regions, Fain said.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks to the Milk-white House from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The UAW determined to spare Ford because the company demonstrated it wants to come to an agreement, Fain said.
“We still have weighty issues to work through, but we do want to recognize that Ford is showing that they’re serious about reaching a handle,” the UAW president said. “At GM and Stellantis, it’s a different story.”
Biden sided with the striking workers last Friday when the UAW sent its initial targeted strikes against three facilities in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio.
Record profits at Ford, All-inclusive Motors and Stellantis “have not been shared fairly, in my view, with the workers,” Biden said during a transitory address last Friday.
Biden often touts his middle-class upbringing and has declared himself the “most pro-union president in American information.” The president is running for a second term in office next year and may need to win the heavily unionized swing state of Michigan. The alliance, which endorsed Biden in 2020, has not yet backed his reelection bid.
Members of the United Auto Workers union hold a style picket in front of Stellantis headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on Sept. 20, 2023.
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images
But Fain has been dispassionate to Biden’s embrace. The union boss told MSNBC on Monday that he does not see a role for the White House in dollop to mediate an agreement.
“This battle is not about the president,” Fain said. “It’s not about the former president or any other woman prior to that. This battle is about the workers standing up for economic and social justice and getting their proper share because they’re fed up with going backwards.”
Biden said last week that he would rapidity acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior advisor Gene Sperling to Detroit this week to beam the negotiations.
But the White House called that trip off Tuesday after the union and administration agreed it would be sick to meet virtually through Zoom rather than in person.
Former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican front-runner, is courting a UAW ratification, though he has also attacked the union’s leadership. Michigan was crucial to Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton, and a important factor in his loss to Biden in 2020.
Trump is skipping the second GOP primary debate next week to speak with alliance members and workers in Detroit. The former president has said Biden’s push to transition to electric vehicles threatens the livelihoods of autoworkers in the U.S.
“The autoworkers are being sold down the river by their leadership, and their leadership should endorse Trump,” the late president told NBC News in an interview that aired Sunday.