Biden set to meet with UAW workers in Michigan

BY SUSAN J. DEMAS, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—President Joe Biden is scheduled to return to Michigan on Thursday, the White House said on Tuesday.

Biden, who is running for reelection this year, plans to meet with United Auto Workers (UAW) members after earning the union’s endorsement last week.

“If I’m gonna be in a fight, I want to be in a fight with you, the UAW,” Biden told the crowd at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “I mean it, we have a big fight in front of us. We’re fundamentally changing the economy of this country, and everybody’s getting a little worried about it, the very powerful.”

The Democrat’s last trip to Michigan was in September when he met with striking UAW workers on a picket line at the Willow Run Redistribution Center in metro Detroit. The union was in the midst of an ultimately successful strike against all three domestic automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Biden is thought to be the first president in modern history to visit an active picket line.

GOP frontrunner former President Donald Trump  also traveled during the strike to Michigan, which is considered to be a critical swing state this election. However, Trump spoke at a non-union plant in Macomb County, where he declared that the UAW has “to endorse Trump, because if they don’t, all they’re doing is committing suicide.”

That pitch didn’t work, as UAW President Shawn Fain said last week that there was a big contrast between Biden and Trump.

“Rarely as a union do you get so clear of a choice between two candidates,” Fain said. “… Donald Trump is a scab. Donald Trump is a billionaire and that’s who he represents. If Donald Trump ever worked in an auto plant, he wouldn’t be a UAW member. He’d be a company man, trying to squeeze the American autoworker.

Biden is expected to outline his lengthy pro-union record at the Thursday event, as well as his administration’s economic record.

READ MORE: A Tale of Two Presidents: Biden visits striking UAW workers, Trump visits non-union shop

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.