GM strike picket lines got a visit from prominent Democratic presidential candidates over the weekend, with front runners voicing their support for the labor movement as the United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors continue to hammer out a new contract.
Former vice president Joe Biden spoke at the Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, where he said that his father sold GM cars to help get Biden through school. Biden also talked about how plant closures can affect communities.
“When things started to go well, what did they do?” Biden asked while speaking from the back of a pickup. “They raised salaries for the CEO.”
“If we don’t win this, and I say this with all earnestness, if the folks that share my view don’t win this, a lot of unions are in trouble,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren picketed with workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which produces the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6. It’s possible the plant could be closed next year, which is one of the major sticking points in the latest GM strike.
“GM is demonstrating that it has no loyalty to the workers of America, or to the people of America,” Warren told the crowd of workers. “Their only loyalty is to their own bottom line. And if they can save a nickel by moving a job to Mexico, or to Asia, or anywhere else on this planet, they will do it. Well, the workers of the UAW are here to say, ‘No more!'”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar also visited the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, where she too voiced her support for autoworkers, indicating they should be rewarded for making concessions “when this company was in some bad straits.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to visit picket lines sometime this week. Sanders, who has a long history of pro-labor stances, has participated in union strikes before, and even includes the song “Union Maid” by Woody Guthrie as part of his pre-rally music selection.
Michigan is seen as particularly important in the 2020 race. In 2016, Donald Trump narrowly won the state over Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes, or two-tenths of a percentage point.
Although Republicans have yet to take a firm stance in the latest GM strike, it’s unclear if the Democrats’ message will sway union members. Although the autoworker union has traditionally aligned itself with the Democratic Party, some autoworkers have voiced support for the Trump administration’s efforts to rewrite NAFTA, as well as its trade policy with China.
On the other side of the fence, some UAW members are frustrated with Trump’s inability to stop the trickle of jobs going to Mexico, as well as a perceived anti-worker agenda executed via the Republican National Labor Relations Board appointee.
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Source: The Washington Post
Comments
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders telling the GM workers how under their Administration.. they would be stripped of their hard fault private healthcare plans and will get Universal Medicare for all; but because there will be open borders and the US population could increase by an additional 100-150 Million, GM workers could expect to see a 40-60 percent increase in their taxes to pay for the free healthcare and elimination of fossil fuels by 2028.
I don’t get the UAW members are they that ill informed that they don’t realize that these candidates want to actually take away their health insurance the Union is fighting for. The only thing is they are probably being told it will be better. Or making a promise like Obama that you can keep your insurance which we all no is not true if they get in power.
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”
– George Bernard Shaw
Respectfully…it’s kind of amazing someone can disagree with the logic and truth in the above quote.
It the words of a thespian, not an academic or a scientist. It can be safely ignored.
Thespians, actors, artists, writers; they all have their own little world they practice their craft within. They are in no position to dictate public policy from within that world, nor preach to the layman, nor pretend to sympathize with the blue collars.
I swung hammers for 10 years, and there was nothing more condescending than being approached by a college-age bohemian with a guitar telling me what kind of class-hardships were before me that I personally would have to recognize and overcome while they pretended to be my friend.
My cynicism and skepticism of the arts is well earned. I have an artform for myself in my free time, but I would never use my craft to leverage over the working class and to tell them what they should do politically.
This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with learning as much of the facts as possible. Knowledge is power. Trust, but verify.
“Measure twice…but cut once.”
Wow the UAW are this uninformed and clueless? This country is in serious trouble if those crazies get into power.
Amy was there first. On the street handing out sandwiches to strikers. Days before the other candidates jumped on the bandwagon.
Don’t forget that UAW workers.