US President Joe Biden joined a United Auto Workers (UAW) strike picket on Tuesday as the strike enters its 12th day, in a show of support for unions that is virtually unprecedented in presidential history.
“You deserve the big raise you need,” Biden said into a megaphone while wearing a union cap after arriving at a General Motors parts warehouse in a suburb west of Detroit, Michigan.
The head of state walked along the picket line, exchanging greetings with smiling workers.
Biden urged them to continue fighting for higher wages despite concerns that a prolonged strike could damage the economy, saying: “Stay strong.”
The Democratic leader answered “yes” when asked whether UAW members deserved a 40% raise, one of the union’s demands.
“No deal, no wheels!” workers shouted as Biden arrived. “No payment – no spare parts!” – they added.
Biden was accompanied to the vigil by UAW President Sean Fein.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for coming to support us in this moment that defines our generation,” Fein said, noting that the union is engaged in “sort of a war” against “corporate greed.”
“We do the hard work. We do real work,” Fein said. “Not CEOs,” he emphasized.
Labor historians say there is no recollection of a sitting president joining an ongoing strike, even during the administrations of the most pro-union heads of state such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
Roosevelt invited union leaders to the White House along with mine operators at the height of the historic 1902 coal strike. The decision was seen as rare union support at the time in the midst of a labor dispute.
Biden arrived in the Detroit metropolitan area a day before former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, held his own event there in support of auto workers, although union leaders refuse to allow the Republican candidate to be an ally .
Lawmakers frequently stage walkouts to show solidarity with labor unions, and in seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Biden joined pickets with casino workers in Las Vegas and auto workers in Kansas City.
But sitting presidents, who must balance workers’ rights with economic abuses in supply chains and other aspects of daily life, have long tended to stay out of strike fights, making Biden an exception.
“This is absolutely unprecedented. No president has ever picketed before,” said Eric Loomis, a University of Rhode Island professor and expert on U.S. labor history.
Historically, presidents have “avoided direct involvement in strikes. They considered themselves more like intermediaries. They did not consider it their role to directly intervene in a strike or trade union action,” he explained.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard the presidential plane bound for Michigan that “Biden is fighting to ensure that the cars of the future are made in America by unionized American workers.” in China.”