No one — NO ONE — cares about unions more than Joe Biden.
First sitting president to stand on a picket line with workers? Joe freaking Biden.
And did it matter? Hell, yes. As the Daily Beast put it:
Biden Gives Full-Throated Endorsement of Historic Auto Strike
President Joe Biden aggressively sided with the United Auto Workers’ strike on Friday, calling on each of the “Big Three” car manufacturers—General Motors, Ford and Stellantis (formerly known as Chrysler)—to come to the table and strike a deal to increase pay and benefits.
Biden made the brief comments on Friday, just hours after 13,000 workers went on a work stoppage—the first time in history that Big Three workers have walked off the job simultaneously.
While auto execs have fumed over the strike and accused the union of making outlandish demands, Biden pointed the finger back at them. He said the companies made “record profits in recent years” off the backs of the “extraordinary skill and sacrifices” of union workers.
The Washington Post underscored the deal’s expected impact.
Ford workers praise new UAW contract: ‘This will change so many lives’
Ford workers are giving positive feedback on the new contract their union negotiated with the automaker, with some calling the 25 percent raise and other details “historic.”
The initial response could bode well for the worker ratification vote needed to finalize the tentative agreement announced Wednesday night. Ford workers have suspended their strike and will return to their jobs as they prepare for a vote that could take a week or more to organize.
“This deal is stronger, better than previous deals,” said Williams, who will make $40 an hour by 2028 under the new deal. “I’m getting all set for my retirement. What a great day to be a Ford employee.”
Recently, Biden moved to help workers in a different way, as discussed by Politico:
Executive order designed to protect workers
It is focused on protecting federal workers and contractors, in part by restoring collective bargaining power and worker protections by revoking measures that President Donald Trump had signed. It also eliminates Schedule F, a class of worker that Trump had established that stripped many federal civil service employees of job protections.
It asks agencies to take a look at which federal employees are earning less than $15 per hour and come up with recommendations to get them above that wage.
And let’s not forget this early, powerful labor move by Biden, as reported by Slate:
Biden Ousts All 10 of Trump’s Union Busters From Powerful Labor Panel
On Tuesday, Joe Biden demanded the resignations of all 10 of Donald Trump’s appointees to the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a powerful labor relations board, in a major victory for federal unions. Eight members resigned, and two were fired after refusing to step down. Trump’s appointees—a group of partisan anti-labor activists—had hobbled federal unions for years, sabotaging their ability to organize and bargain collectively. Biden’s clean sweep, which was first reported by Government Executive’s Erich Wagner, marks a crucial step toward ending his predecessor’s campaign of federal union busting.
Laura Clawson of DK highlighted more early Biden steps backing labor:
Biden’s support for unions is almost unprecedented
President Joe Biden made a historic statement in favor of workers’ right to organize and against employer intimidation of workers in a video released Sunday evening. “I made it clear when I was running that my administration’s policy would be to support unions organizing and the right to collectively bargain,” he said. “I’m keeping that promise. You should all remember the National Labor Relations Act didn’t just say that unions are allowed to exist, it said that we should encourage unions.
“So let me be really clear: It’s not up to me to decide whether anyone should join a union,” Biden continued. “But let me be even more clear: it’s not up to an employer to decide that either. The choice to join a union is up to the workers—full stop. Full stop.”
Biden’s video came days after a group of progressive organizations called on him to support the Amazon workers’ effort. Labor historians and worker advocates hailed the video as a major step beyond those Biden’s predecessors took.
“It’s almost unprecedented in American history,” Erik Loomis, a labor historian at the University of Rhode Island, told The Washington Post. “We have the sense that previous presidents in the mid-20th century were overtly pro-union, but that really wasn’t the case. Even FDR never really came out and told workers directly to support a union.”
”We haven’t had this aggressive and positive of a statement from a president of the United States on behalf of workers in decades,” said Faiz Shakir, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign manager and the founder of More Perfect Union. “It is monumental that you have a president sending a message to workers across the country that if you take the courageous step to start to unionize you will have allies in the administration, the NLRB, and the Labor Department. It means a lot.”
Unions see this and are endorsing him! Here are just a couple of many:
SEIU endorses Biden-Harris for reelection
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced its endorsement of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for reelection.
“President Biden has consistently backed workers who are fighting to win their unions,” said SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. “From his first day in office when he fired the anti-union NLRB General Counsel to the Executive Order that he signed last week to lift up care workers, he has delivered for working people. Under President Biden, we have created a record 12 million new jobs, lowered healthcare costs, passed historic funding to address climate change, reversed most of Trump's toxic anti-immigrant policies and made more people eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) than all previous presidents combined.”
UAW, Fain endorse Biden, say Trump 'stands against everything we stand for'
The United Auto Workers union endorsed U.S. President Joe Biden's reelection bid on Wednesday, with the union president delivering a fiery speech in Washington that was also harshly critical of Republican former President Donald Trump.
In a full-throated endorsement of the Democratic incumbent, UAW President Shawn Fain cited Biden's pro-union record and his decision to become the first president to join a union picket line this summer during a successful autoworkers strike for higher pay. "Instead of talking trash about our union, Joe Biden stood with us," Fain said.
Fain and Biden previously had sharp differences over electric vehicle policy, and the endorsement could be a strong boost to Biden in Michigan and other manufacturing states.
Fain heaped criticism on Trump, citing his failure to persuade General Motors to keep an assembly plant open in Ohio and his appearance at a non-union hall during last year's strike, and called him a "scab."
"Donald Trump stands against everything we stand for as a society," Fain said.
Biden took the floor to loud cheers and applause from hundreds of UAW members, telling them, "I was so damn proud to stand in that picket line with you."
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden did more than many people guessed could be done. And he deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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