WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden joined striking auto workers in Detroit on Tuesday as the first time a U.S. president has participated in striking workers in his tenure.
The visit came at the invitation of auto workers union president Sean Finn, although the union has not yet announced its support for Biden in the 2024 presidential race.
The strike, which now covers 38 factories and distribution centers in 20 states, began on September 15 over disputes over the rate of wage increases over the next four years.
The union is demanding a 40 percent increase, while the U.S. auto giants General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have offered no more than a 20 percent wage increase.
Biden's visit came a day before former President Donald Trump, who is absent from the second debate between the Republican candidates tonight and is speaking instead to auto workers in a Detroit suburb.
Trump has proven that the Republican Party can be a contender for the votes of workers, especially white workers, and although Biden beat Trump in industrialized states in the 2020 election, he did not win a large majority of the white labor vote, so visits are important for both candidates.
Thousands of workers in the automotive industry began a strike in mid-September to demand higher wages (French)
Historical visits
Jeremy Meyer, a professor at George Mason University School of Politics and Government in Virginia, says Biden's visits are "a big problem; no president has visited striking workers in decades."
"The move is proof that the Democratic Party is moving to the left in the economy, even though it has always been a party with very strong ties to both workers and venture capitalists and businesses at the same time," he said.
"It's also an important step for Trump," Meyer said: "Most Republicans were so pro-corporate and capitalist that they were seen as anti-unionists."
According to Meyer, "the Republican Party today is becoming a populist party that has some support from union members, or at least that's what they're trying to do."
Biden and Trump are vying for the same votes in Michigan and each is trying to attract auto workers to his side (AP)
How will car companies respond?
The visit of the Democratic president and his top rival Republican candidate makes it harder for U.S. auto companies to stand in their negotiations with the auto workers' union.
Professor Meyer confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that "automakers do not have any other game to play in this case, when the two main candidates for the 2024 elections from both parties embrace the labor union, this weakens the companies' negotiating position."
He did not agree with the previous proposal Michael Macquarie, labor policy expert, director of the Center for Labor and Democracy and associate professor at Arizona State University, as he predicted – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that manufacturers will reject political interference unless it is aimed at a settlement to end the strike.
He said neither visit was likely to have a significant impact on wage hike negotiations, ruling out auto workers' union president Sean Fein backing down from union demands, "at least until the strike fund dries up."
Attitude towards Trump
"How will the union react to Trump's support, especially since it supported his rival Biden in the 2020 election?"
"They attack him for appointing judges who are known for their stances against workers' rights, and his policies as president have been anti-union. Do they welcome him and look forward to working with him, or vice versa?"
Macquarie ruled out Trump winning the auto workers' union endorsement because he "opposed workers on most key issues," and the labor policy expert said the only unions Trump cares about most are those that support him.
Auto Workers' Union President Sean Fein (left) and American actress Debbie Dingle (right) welcome the US president before he joins the strike (French)
Michigan Circuit Competition
For the first time in an early campaign season, Biden and Trump are directly vying for the same votes in Michigan, each trying to attract state auto workers to his side.
Trump won Michigan, which has 16 Electoral College votes, in the 2016 election by a narrow margin over Hillary Clinton, then narrowly lost it to Biden in 2020.
Biden's agenda relies heavily on supporting the production of electric cars in the battle to curb climate change. Biden's inflation-lowering law gave large financial incentives to auto companies to make more of them, without allocating guarantees to improve workers' wages and conditions, so the union has not yet announced its endorsement of any of the candidates.
The auto workers' union has at least 145,<> members, doubling the importance of the workers' voting bloc.
Autoplant workers are not confined to Michigan, with a large proportion in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as well.