Joe Biden is making a historic visit to striking auto workers on Tuesday, an electorate to whom Donald Trump plans to address the next day by also traveling to the cradle region of this industry.
On the campaign trail, the Democrat will become the first sitting American president to go to a picket line in Michigan. This northern state is the epicenter of an unprecedented strike movement which affects three giants of the sector: General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
And President Biden is firmly expected in front of one of the Ford factories in the region, in Wayne County, where a dozen strikers are on picket Tuesday morning, between signs asking to “save the American dream” and a fire. camp near a tent.
“It’s huge, it’s important support because he believes in what we’re fighting for, it makes me very proud,” one of the strikers, Patrick Smaller, told AFP.
For him, there is no doubt that the United Auto Workers (UAW) must support the outgoing president.
By going there on Tuesday, the latter is stealing the limelight from his Republican rival, who plans to go to the same state on Wednesday to court blue-collar workers, on whom he intends to base his reconquest of the White House.
Enough to make this already historic strike a subject of political battle.
Donald Trump, who announced his trip before that of Joe Biden, also accused the Democratic president of copying him. And his spokesperson Jason Miller called Joe Biden’s visit “nothing more than a poor photo op.”
But according to White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, the American president’s trip is “absolutely not” influenced by that of the Republican.
“Prosunion”
For Joe Biden, the challenge is to prove that he is, on the contrary, the president of the working classes, defender of the unions and architect of the industrial renewal of the United States.
“His trip will be historic. It will highlight the extent to which the president is the most pro-union in the history of the United States, Karine Jean-Pierre declared Monday.
But the octogenarian, struggling in the polls and now gauged at each trip on his physical condition, is walking on eggshells: the current social conflict could prove very damaging for the American economy.
And the strike extended Friday to automakers General Motors and Stellantis, due to lack of progress in union negotiations, unlike Ford, with which “real progress” has been made, according to the UAW.
Joe Biden has several times publicly estimated that manufacturers should pass on their “record profits” to employees.
Asked whether the president was taking sides in the social conflict, the White House spokesperson preferred to avoid the questions, insisting on the fact that Joe Biden wanted above all a “win-win” agreement.
“We do not get involved in negotiations,” she added.
“Take your jobs”
Joe Biden has made his support for unions a hallmark of his term, and the UAW’s support of his candidacy in 2020 helped him swing Michigan in his favor, when the state had voted for Donald Trump in 2016.
However, the Democrat’s government is one of the driving forces behind the historic upheaval that the automobile industry is experiencing, towards more, more ecological vehicles.
“When he walks slowly pretending to be on a ‘picket,’ remember he wants to take your jobs and send them to China,” Donald Trump accused on Truth Social, not skimping on the capital letters including he likes to use.
The Republican’s hopes of a return to the White House rest largely on the votes of these same blue-collar workers, whom he won in 2016 in key states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
On the Democratic side, however, we question the pro-union commitment of the billionaire real estate magnate.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump will speak in front of a factory that manufactures spare parts in Clinton Township, Michigan, according to his campaign team, a little more than 60 km from where Joe Biden visited the day before.
For Tiara Conner, 30, also a striker in Wayne County, Mr. Trump’s arrival is “not a surprise, it’s a good way to reinforce a trend. I just hope that he also comes for good reasons and to show us his solidarity.”