“Let’s be clear, no one wants a strike,” President Biden stated in remarks from the White House after talks between both parties collapsed and union workers went on strike against the automakers at midnight.
“But I respect workers’ right to use their options under the collective bargaining system,” he said.
Members of the union went on strike at midnight and walked out at three plants: a General Motors site in Missouri, a Stellantis center in Ohio and a Ford assembly plant in Michigan.
Biden said he understands workers’ frustration and stressed that while auto companies have seen “record profits,” those profits “have not been shared fairly, in my view, with those workers.”
He said he wants there to be a “win-win” deal for both autoworkers and auto companies “that promotes good strong middle class jobs that workers can raise a family on.”
Biden also said he’s dispatching White House economic adviser Gene Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to Detroit “to offer their full support for the parties” in reaching a contract.” Sperling, who has been serving as the point person on key issues related to the labor union and auto companies, has been coordinating with Su.
Former President Donald Trump slammed Biden earlier this week, alleging that his successor was attacking “American labor and American autoworkers.”
Nearly 13,000 autoworkers went on strike after contract talks ended Thursday night without an agreement.
Workers are striking at GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio. For Ford, Fain said only workers in the paint and final assembly areas will be on strike.
On Labor Day (the first Monday in September), when President Biden was asked if he was worried about a possible UAW strike, he replied, “No, I’m not worried about a strike until it happens.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Biden stressed at the time, local media recall.
For the President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, the blame lies with Joe Biden.
“The UAW strike and, indeed, the ‘summer of strikes’ is the natural result of the Biden administration’s ‘whole of government’ approach to promoting unionization at all costs.”
The United States is currently experiencing widespread strikes. The auto industry members join over 170,000 media professionals and writers who have been on strike for months.
This UAW strike would increase the number of unemployed workers to the highest level since 1983, noted an article published on the Common Dreams website.
Gallup polls showed that public support for unions is at its highest level in nearly 60 years.
Such an increase, the publication noted, indicates significant social change and an awakening to the reality of working conditions in a 21st century economy that often prioritizes profits over people. pll/lam/dfm
