Current and former presidents target crucial voter group as auto workers’ strike drags on.
BELLEVILLE, Mich.—President Biden walked a Michigan picket line with striking auto workers on Tuesday, offering an unprecedented display of union support as he and former President Donald Trump prepared for a fight for working-class voters.
Biden joined members of the United Auto Workers union at a
customer-care center, a politically risky step that makes him the first U.S. president to walk a picket line, according to the White House and historians.
“Stick with it. You deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits,” Biden said, addressing members of UAW Local 174 through a bullhorn. Biden, wearing a black UAW baseball cap, then put his arm around a worker wearing a red UAW T-shirt and listened as union President Shawn Fain called Biden’s visit “a historic moment.”
“Our president has chosen to stand up with workers in our fight for economic and social justice,” Fain said, thanking Biden for his attendance. Union members waved signs with messages including “Saving The American Dream,” cheered for the president and lined up to fist bump him after the remarks.
Asked by a reporter whether workers deserved a 40% pay raise, Biden said, “Yes,” adding: “I think they should be able to bargain for that.”
More than a year before the general election, Biden and Trump are making plays for the battleground state, which Trump captured in 2016 and Biden won in 2020. Trump is dominating the Republican primary field and, after Biden’s pitch to auto workers in the Detroit area, the former president was expected in the state on Wednesday as hypothetical general election polls show them running neck and neck.
For Biden, who has declared himself the most pro-union president in history, the trip comes as he is struggling in the polls, with voters expressing doubts about his age and handling of the economy. His decision to walk the picket line carried risks if the strike drags on………….