President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, supporting their call for a 40% pay raise and saying they deserve a "lot more" than they are getting.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, supporting their call for a 40% pay raise and saying they deserve a “lot more” than they are getting.

Biden’s appearance, the first visit by a U.S. president to striking workers in modern history, comes a day before Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for president, will speak to auto workers in Michigan. The rare back-to-back events highlight the importance of union support in the 2024 presidential election, even though unions represent a tiny fraction of U.S. workers.

Democrat Biden traveled to a Belleville, Michigan, parts distribution center owned by General Motors (GM.N), and joined dozens of picketers outside. “Companies were in trouble, now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too,” Biden said through a bullhorn. “Stick with it.”

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
    939·
    1 year ago
    1. Fuck you for assuming I’m any kind of liberal. Especially fuck you for insinuating I’m a Republican.
    2. Regardless of the RLA holding a gun to their Union’s head, they did vote to approve the Senate’s contract. I’m personally very dissatisfied with the agreement, but ultimately, their union voted to ratify the agreement. As NPR notes, the deal falls significantly short of the goals rail workers were fighting for. They decided to accept it, in the face of a repeat of PATCO.
    • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
      274·
      1 year ago

      Fuck you for assuming I’m any kind of liberal. Especially fuck you for insinuating I’m a Republican.

      I didn’t say anything about your personal politics - I have far too little to go off to make that kind of claim. I said your comments are reflecting conservative talking points. Ease off the throttle man.

      Rarely does a strike end in the exact goals from the outset. It’s about which goals are most important. Paid sick leave was clearly important, and whether it came in that contract or months later - thanks to the Biden admin - is immaterial. That was a cornerstone demand and they are getting it. So your initial assessment is wrong. The union is clearly happy with how things shook out. Who cares if it took a few extra months? Obviously it was worth it.

      Despite the hostile tone I’m happy to honor my promise. I’ll be giving to my local SPCA - do you need a screenshot?

      • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
        163·
        1 year ago

        I got a bit upset about you saying I was fueling right-wing talking points, so my bad. I’ll always fight on the side of labor, even if the Republican party is trying to make them the ball in political games.

        Personally I think it would have turned out much better for their union after even a day on strike, but I guess we’ll never know. My point is not “they didn’t get what they wanted but got something good”, it’s that the deal was forcibly imposed on them without any other options. I was not aware of the aftermath of the deal so I appreciate you highlighting it, but it still falls short in my eyes. Were I in their union, I’d be a minority opposed to the outcome. But that’s the thing, I’m just a guy on the Internet, not a member of IBEW, SMART-MD, or IBT (CWA guy in the tech industry, actually).

        I trust you to do the right thing, I don’t need a screen shot. Thank you for putting up.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        412·
        1 year ago

        I didn’t say anything about your personal politics - I have far too little to go off to make that kind of claim.

        You accused them of listening to Hannity, so uh