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UAW Union Leader Won’t Meet With Donald Trump This Week

UAW President Shawn Fain will not meet with Donald Trump this week as the former U.S. president gears up for a rally in Michigan. Trump has attacked UAW leadership on several occasions, including UAW President Fain specifically. Trump’s upcoming rally will be held amid an ongoing UAW strike against all three of the Big Detroit automakers, including GM, Ford, and Stellantis.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Per a report from Politico, UAW President Fain addressed Donald Trump’s upcoming trip to Michigan on CNN Tuesday evening.

“I don’t think the man has any bit of care about what our workers stand for, what the working class stands for,” Fain said. “He serves the billionaire class and that’s what’s wrong with this country.”

Fain went on to slam Trump’s record on labor and the UAW, stating that Trump blamed UAW members in 2008 during the Great Recession, while during Trump’s presidential run in 2015, the then-prospective nominee “talked about doing a rotation, taking all these good-paying jobs in the Midwest and moving them somewhere in the South, where people will work for less money and then to make people beg for their jobs back at lower wages.”

UAW President Shawn Fain addresses UAW members during a speech

Fain added that Donald Trump was “missing in action” in 2019 when the UAW was striking at GM.

“Where was he then? Our workers at [General Motors] were on strike for 60 days, for two months, they were out there on the picket lines,” Fain said.

Trump is scheduled to speak at Drake Enterprises Inc. at 8 p.m. this evening, holding the rally in Michigan in lieu of attending the second Republican presidential primary debate. The rally is reportedly invite-only, and will include “current and former union members.” Drake Automotive employees are not represented by the UAW.

Fain also said that it was a “pathetic irony” that Trump chose a non-union venue for his rally.

Trump’s rally takes place one day after President Biden visited a UAW picket line at the GM Willow Run Distribution Center, marking the first time that a sitting president in modern history has joined a picket line. Biden has voiced support for the UAW since the union declared that it was striking following the expiration of the previous labor contracts on September 14th. Despite the support, the UAW has not yet given formal endorsement to Biden in his bid for reelection.

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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