Powerful motor union UAW recommends voting for Biden in presidential election | USA election

Joe Biden scored something important this Wednesday in his race for re-election in November. The President of the United States has received strong support from Sean Fan, leader of the powerful United Auto Workers (UAW) union. Fann returns the favor that Biden did to him with a historic gesture, megaphone in hand when he joined a union-led strike against Detroit’s Big Three: General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, which absorbed Chrysler. Industrial workers’ votes could be decisive in some key states in the November presidential election, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin. The UAW union has about 400,000 members.

The event, which Biden attended, was held the day after Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries, where Donald Trump won a landslide victory over Nikki Haley, putting the Republican nomination on track. Biden, for his part, won the Democratic primary comfortably despite not appearing on the ballot.

“I know there are people who want to ignore these elections,” the union president said. “Elections are not just about choosing your best friend for office or the candidate who makes you feel the best. “Elections are about power,” he continued. “This November, we can stand up and elect someone who will stand with us and support our cause, or we can elect someone who will divide us and fight us every step of the way. The question is, who do we want in that position to give us the best chance to win? When asked by the union leader, those in attendance clapped and chanted Joe Biden’s name.

Fan pointed to a Biden quote projected on the screen in support of auto unions and the crowd cheered. He then highlighted quotes from Donald Trump, including one about unions “damaging” the auto industry, and many in the audience booed. “Rarely as a union do you have such a clear choice between two candidates,” Fenn concluded.

At one point a blank white square was projected on the screen, which Fein said was an image of what Trump had done for American auto workers. He recalled that when the UAW union went on strike against GM in 2019, Trump, then president, remained silent. “He didn’t say anything. He didn’t do anything. It doesn’t matter because he doesn’t care about the American worker,” Fenn said.

And it contrasted with Biden’s stance during last year’s strike. “During our strike get up (Biden) heard the call and stood up,” Fan said, “the first time a sitting president has done that,” joining a picket line. “Joe Biden went for the American worker when Donald Trump blamed the American worker. So if we want to get support, So Joe Biden has earned it. “Today I’m proud to stand here with the International Executive Board and endorse Joe Biden for President of the United States,” the union president said.

Biden has declared himself the most union-friendly president in United States history. He had already campaigned with union leaders ahead of the 2022 legislative elections, but the moment he showed it most was when he joined a UAW union strike picket at the center for a quarter of an hour last September. General Motors’ distribution center in the Detroit metropolitan area.

Megaphone in hand, standing on some wooden pallets and wearing a union cap, he then expressed his support for the strikers’ demands: “Stand firm. You deserve a substantial raise and other benefits,” he said. “Wall Street didn’t build this country, the middle class built this country, and the unions built the middle class,” he added. Unions achieved the most beneficial collective agreement in decades, regaining some purchasing power and gains lost in the wake of the financial crisis.

The UAW union has been the most powerful and influential union in the United States throughout its 88-year history, but it has fallen into an era of decadence and corruption for which two of its presidents served prison terms. In March, Fein became the first union president to be directly elected by his members, and his aggressive approach won more lucrative contracts. A union is usually one of the last to support one of the candidates, as its members include many voters from both parties.

With the support of unions, Biden hopes to trim the advantage Trump has enjoyed among white workers without college degrees. Trump stole from Democrats much of the traditional support of industrial workers in the United States’ so-called Rust Belt, where heavy industry is concentrated. He defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, among other states where blue-collar workers weigh heavily, and thus clinched the presidency. Biden won all three back in 2020 and, along with Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, they could be decisive again this year.

At this Wednesday’s event, Biden boasted of keeping his commitment to being the most pro-union president in history. “This is not the first time I have participated in the picket line. In my home state of Delaware, I did it many times. But that was the first time a president had done it, I found out later,” he explained.

“We have a great fight ahead of us. “We are fundamentally changing the economy of this country,” Biden said. “Since I came into office, with your help we’ve created 14 million new jobs,” he added, thanking the union for its support while attendees chanted: “Four more years! “Four more years!”

Even at this event, the specter of pro-Palestinian opposition to Biden’s support for Israel in the Gaza war haunted him. Almost every campaign event has been disrupted by activists.

Follow all information about elections in the United States Our weekly newsletter.