Joe Biden to join picket line with striking auto workers in Michigan
Joe Biden to join picket line with striking auto workers in Michigan
President Joe Biden is set to join the UAW picket line in Michigan one day before former President Donald Trump visits the Detroit area.
As a Democrat who voted for Biden because he didn't want to see fascism, but was very sore about doing so because Biden is a milquetoast moderate at best...
This is sick. Props.
He's been a lot more progressive in his policies than I think people thought he'd be. He's not flashy about it though, so people tend to only hear the complaining that comes from much louder people
Just remember, this isn't Biden having a change of mind necessarily, this is more about Biden answering to pressure. The reason why Biden behaves like this is mostly because the UAW has witheld their endorsment for him, saying that "Biden has to pick a side, either the working class, or the billionaires", that "he has to earn his endorsment" and that "they expect actions, not just words".
Ditto
He sold out the rail unions not even a year ago
I ain't a Joe Biden fanboy, but I would like to say if Bernie got elected president and he did this then the streets would go wild. This is insanely (good) that a president is showing so much solidarity and support to striking workers. This gets eyes and ears about the UAW strike, people see this support, they become emboldened, and now start thinking, "Hey, maybe we should strike or unionize..."
This is such a huge win for America and leftism in general. Let's Go Dark Brandon
Yeah. He sure showed solidarity when he broke up the train strike....
Yes, he stopped the train strike. He then worked with the rail unions for weeks negotiating with the bosses and now the rail workers have the sick days that was one of the big drivers of them going on strike for. Here's the statement straight from the IBEW.
They literally thank Biden's administration directly for applying pressure in the weeks after blocking the strike that eventually led to the union getting what it was asking for. I'm no big fan of Biden's, but trying to paint him as anti labor especially using him blocking the rail strike is just patently untrue. With everything that's been happening around Biden's NLRB under Lina Khan he is easily the most pro worker president we've had in decades.
Unfortunately he followed the law. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 prevents railroad workers from striking. They instead have to follow the exact process that was followed and continue working while in negotiation. As a rail worker, to go on strike is to quit your job.
Edit: After rereading, the RLA 1926 will allow for "self-help" remedies after a minimum of 60 days have elapsed from the time the National Mediation Board begins it's process. This allows 30 days of NMB mediation, followed by 30 days for a Presidential Emergency Board investigation, either of which can be extended and with the caveat that
The NMB can keep the parties in mediation indefinitely, so long as it feels there is a reasonable prospect for settlement.
Was coming here to complain about this compared to the rail strike - found out that Biden actually got the rail strikers what they wanted in this thread.
Now I've got to complain something else. Hmmm, how about how Biden isn't proud of his union support. Make noise! Show that unions actually work! Stop acting like unions winning is something is something that you should be ashamed of and hide. Good, still got to complain about something.
The auto strike has a 75% approval rating. That's way bigger than most things in US politics. Not supporting the auto strike is a losing issue.
You would think so, but then you've got some of the GOP candidates who missed that memo. Tim Scott (R-SC), taking his strategy from the ghost of Reagan, has said the strikers should all be fired. And Nikki Haley says that Biden is too pro-union and it's his fault unions are asking for more than poor, long-suffering auto companies can afford.
This is great to see!
Biden may not be a progressive as an individual but his administration's agenda is easily the most progressive of my lifetime--and I was old enough to vote for Obama twice. It would be even more so if Congress gave him progressive bills to sign, too!
So far the biggest positive story of 2023 is the massive increase in labor action across multiple industries.
I'm about the same age as you. It's not saying much to be the most progressive administration of our lifetime. We haven't had any progressive administration. Obama wasn't bad, but it'd be a stretch to call it progressive. It did boost Healthcare some, and it helped LGBTQ+ rights, but not much else. Pretty much every republican has been regressive though.
I feel like I voted for Bernie instead of Biden. Wtf is going on. This is amazing.
Perhaps the man's turned a new leaf in his old age. He ain't perfect, sure, but I'd be lying if I said he wasn't far better than I (or most others) had expected.
This is less about Biden coming to his senses, at the end of the day, Biden does what is politically viable and smart for him. Sure, maybe he has become more progressive, but I think this has more to do with the UAW new militant approach.
And one important thing, which puts a lot of pressure on Biden, is that the UAW has recently always endorsed the democrats, but they now have withheld endorsment for Biden until "he has earned it" and "prooves his solidarity with the working class, not the billionaire class".
And Trump is also trying to pander to the union, so Biden is in a lot of pressure to gain the union's endorsment.
I fear the politician who has never changed their mind more than the one who has. It's a really important skill to be able to accept your beliefs were wrong and adapt with new information.
Biden has been the most progressive president in my lifetime, and that's because the party has moved leftward too.
Cringe. I'm no berniestan but he's been out there protesting for decades. Biden was in the senate approving rapist supreme court justices.
A justice he helped put on the bench of the supreme court who just recently was revealed to be taking off the books gifts and bribes from billionaires.
Oh forgot to say that justice also voted to repeal roe vs wade.
Remember rail strike?
You mean when he in the three months afterwards helped the workers and the union to make sure they got their demands, while also not causing an actual rail shutdown that would cause massive harm to multiple areas?
As if this thread will let me forget it for 30 seconds.
Yep, I'll remember this too.
People are measured by the sum of their actions.
I'm happy this is happening, and was unhappy that went down how it did.
No, which is the problem.
Beat me to it! Fuck these fucking fucks.
They worked to get what the Union asked for and the Union thanked them for it.
Yeah wouldn't trust him on this. He definitely not on the side of workers.
What are you talking about? Yes, they ended the strike without getting paid go leave, but the WH continued to work on it after and they did get what they were asking for. Just media didn't bother reporting on that little detail as it wasn't "newsworthy".
Edit: https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
Labor costs, at roughly 5%, remain a small percentage of annual costs for the Detroit automakers
Source - CNBC and Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at The Center for Automotive Research
“We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line − from our friends and families, all the way up to the president of the United States,” Fain said.
"Guys, I was being rhetorical, now what are we supposed to do?"
A couple of my friends had the president visit the military base they were stationed at. They said it was by far the worst week of their military career. All the security, and the security for the security, and the security theater on top of those so nobody could think they're taking it less than 150% seriously.
And the cleaning. Oh, the cleaning. Basic training has nothing on the minute bullshit "mess" that you can get in trouble for when the president is visiting in 2 days.
I had the vice president and most of the the cabinet visit my workplace once in the military years back.
To give you an example of the level of inanity, we took an "emergency" wrench off the wall where it had been bolted for 20 years, painted behind it, the rebolted it it the wall, hiding the paint job we just did. We then painted over the front of the wrench, a wrench that should not have been painted.
The VIPs? Walked through our workplace without stopping. They were there for roughly 20 seconds, never broke their stride. Largely, they just looked bewildered.
On the plus side, I got to evil eye a shitty VP, Secretary of state and Secretary of defense, so that was fun.
American auto companies: "Fuck."
President Joe Biden has genuinely been one of the more pro-labor presidents in American history. While I strongly disagree with how he handled the rail strikes, the policy coming from his NLRB and the way he's been handling the auto strikes I think are a strong indicator of the policy that he stands for. The United States presidency has an extremely poor track record when it comes to working with labor, and I'll take whatever progress I can get.
Actually he handled them really well, maybe not so good from the PR point of view, as almost no one reported on it:
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
The ibew is one of the more conservative of the 13 separate rail unions, whose strategy involves lobbying Democrats instead of organizing. So of course they're going to praise Biden. My own union isn't as bad, but also throws praise at Biden even tho his administration was a negative influence on our negotiations. For a better view of rail labor, I'd listen to Railworkers United, a caucus of rail workers across all 13 separate unions to pressure the unions to work together and demand more for members. https://myemail.constantcontact.com/RWU-Issues-Official-Statement-on-PEB--250.html?soid=1116509035139&aid=Bt3zn_HU0ik
Biden was a bad influence on West Coast longshore negotiations. As our negotions started, he had both the ILWU president and the employer's representative onto the battleship Iowa to pledge to not prepare for a strike. The union did not prepare for a strike, but the shippers diverted a huge amount of cargo away from the West Coast thru the Panama Canal. Granted, a West coast longshore strike stops 40% of US imports. But removing the threat means the employers have zero incentive to budge.
Unless I misunderstand this, it’s also true that it is now against the law for a railroad worker to strike, and it will stay that way until/unless repealed. Unless something changes, that’s the last raise they can realistically ever get now that they are banned from using their only real lever of power.
Happily, this is a misunderstanding. The block on striking was short and temporary, essentially until the agreement was either accepted or rejected as a whole. The Railway Labor Act is still in effect, but it's been in effect for almost a century now, so that's nothing that's new or changed.
If the unions wanted to take up arms and get people riled up again, there's nothing stopping them from threatening another strike, except for the motivation (and material conditions) of their own members.
Yeah, just deleted the comment because I went and double checked, you are indeed correct.
First I thought it was onion, but now as I think of it, it is quite smart move. It will be very hard for the companies reject these demands, and hopefully will cause the strike to end soon.
No other politician has learned and evolved like President Joe Biden (Dark Brandon FTW) has. He's cool AF
He didn't do well with the rail strikers but I guess he's trying to redeem himself. But I prefer that over a President who's consistently against labor, like any Republican one would be.
I guess he's trying to redeem himself
I mean that's one way to put it, but at the end of the day, he isn't some manga anti-hero, he is a politician and politicians want to be elected.
I am pretty sure this is about the UAW's change of attitude that puts immense pressure on Biden, especially that they are withholding their endorsment for Biden until he "earned it". And of course Trump is also trying to suck up to the unions, so Biden has to step up his game.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/17/uaw-auto-strike-joe-biden-union/70884657007/
The IBEW itself applauds Biden's handling of the rail strikes https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid#:~:text=The IBEW and BNSF Railway,personal days to sick days.
There were a lot of external concerns with a strike too. The delays would have left some municipalities without water purification supplies. Delays in coal and gas would mean no electricity or heating in the middle of December
If he broke the strike just to make sure Christmas deliveries were made on time that would be unconscionable. Concerns over power and heating are more understandable.
Really this just shows this sector is so critical to the economy and our lives that it needs to be nationalized, and the workers deserve their demands as a minimum.
This is good for him but I feel like his secret sevice detail will be stressed to the gills by this.
All presidents should fear upsetting the people, instead of upsetting capital.
"Sure, he killed a strike last year, but he's learning"
He's a neolib that considers the PR of killing this strike more hurtful to his reelection than the last one.
Didn't biden just sign anti labor legislation to stop the rail worker strike?
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/
Not sure if we should start lining up to blow him quite yet about this kind of issue. But I'm not familiar enough to fully comment. I'm sure lemmings will line up to tell me why I'm wrong about this..
Supposedly he signed that, then turned around and demanded the sick days:
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2306/230620_IBEWandPaid
He still took rights away from the workers.
I’m sure lemmings will line up to tell me why I’m wrong about this…
Is this a bad thing? If you're wrong, it's good to be corrected.
I've found lemmy to be the single most toxic malicious place on the internet I've ever been and every time I post I literally cringe waiting for the horde to attack. I'm probably closing my account soon tbh because I can't take it anymore. For the record I like being wrong because it means I'm about to learn something new. But around here I was expecting fifty downvotes and a bunch of replies saying FUCK YOU CORPORATE BOOTLICKER SCUM, words to that effect.
Elections are around the corner.
I hate Republicans. But that doesn't mean I like Biden. I still can't forgive him for what he did to the railroad workers.
Edit: I stand corrected. They reached to a better agreement later.
Well thank God Biden didn't stop working with them and assisted in getting them what they wanted. They seem satisfied.
He broke the rail strike, then made a big song and dance about sick days as if that was the only thing rail workers needed to strike over.
Fucked over workers and pissed all over their broad set of grievances and demands.
I don't think he should be welcomed.
Well I am glad he didn't stop fighting along side them and get them what they wanted.
The rail strike affected the supply chain, it wasn't just a straight up workers vs. the company kind of thing. A lot of collateral damage to consider downstream. And he hardly fucked them over. He forced a deal that was likely how it would've worked out anyway.
Biden has done more for unions than any President in history. That just doesn't fit with the doomer narrative though.
Wasn't Trump supposed to visit striking workers next week? He's about to be upstaged.
No trump is doing a rally event with hand picked union members that are anti union. He is not going there to support the union.
I thought it would have been funny if Biden planned to go at the exact time and place and preempted trumps visit because the president is first.
Imagine trump joining a picket line. He’d be lining up an armed security force to protect scabs, and giving a speech about how unamerican the strikers are, how they’re anti-capitalism and thus anti-democracy.
Good. President is meant to send a signal to Americans during meaningful moments
it is election year so throwing people a bunch of hope that you actually care definitley will win votes biden spent four years ignoring campaign promises such as voting reform still am unable to vote as are a lot of others
why not choose a different colors and letters besides red and blue and r and d why do we as citizens allow such crap choices
biden will throw some good will around and just like trump did with his followers only during election time
It’s not a presidential election year. Every year is an election year though
