The American democratic experiment has been an object of fascination since its infancy. Claiming to study the prison system, French magistrates and aristocrats Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont traveled across the United States in 1831 and 1832 to get a closer look. They observed in this country not only “its inhabitants, its towns, its institutions, its customs”, but also “the mechanism of its republican government”. Tocqueville drew two emblematic works from this 10-month stay: Democracy in America And Fifteen days in the desert. Duty followed in their footsteps, 193 years later, at a time when this democracy seems more threatened than ever. Third stop: Detroit, where auto workers’ associations are leading the charge.
The barrier at the main entrance to General Motors’ ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant rises as workers return to work after a historic 46-day strike, during which they won support of the President of the United States, Joe Biden. “The revolution starts here,” is written in capital letters on the gigantic poster covering the facade of the building, on which visitors can also see an all-electric Hummer truck driving impetuously through the mud.
As the presidential vote approaches, most auto workers Duty addressed in the “Motor City” welcome with polite indifference the calls from political parties to mobilize again.
The president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, Shawn Fain, for his part, chose to throw all his weight behind the election of the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, after obtaining assurances that she would continue investments in American manufacturing jobs and would help end the war in the Gaza Strip, according to The New York Times.
It encourages its members, starting with those living in one of the pivotal states, such as Michigan, to give control of the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate to Democrats, by exchanging “in person or by telephone” with their loved ones on important issues for the middle class, such as the right of association, access to health care and pensions as well as reducing the cost of living.
After having brought down the “Big Three”, the three major automobile manufacturers of Detroit – Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) – the electrician wants to put an end to Donald Trump, whom he accuses of being the “dog pocket” of billionaires. “ [Les républicains] want to blame the frustrations of the working class on racialized people, on LGBTQ+ people […]about the destitute and desperate people at the border. They do this because they want to divide the working class and distract from the real enemy: corporate greed,” he said in a speech to Democratic convention attendees last August. For the occasion, he was dressed in a red t-shirt on which was written: “Trump is a strikebreaker. Let’s vote for Harris. »
The Democrats smile: UAW represents 145,000 employees of Detroit’s “Big Three”, who today are responsible for the production of half of the vehicles manufactured in the United States.
Americans of all ages, of all conditions, of all minds, are constantly uniting. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which everyone takes part, but they also have a thousand other types: religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small. ; the Americans join together to give festivals, found seminaries, build inns, raise churches, distribute books, send missionaries to the antipodes; In this way they create hospitals, prisons, schools. Finally, when it comes to highlighting a truth or developing a feeling with the support of a great example, they come together.
From furs to automobiles
Determined to find the border between colonization and the “virgin forest” which continued to advance westward, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont stopped in Detroit during the summer of 1831.
This land of conquests where the indigenous, French, British and American populations clashed saw the fur trade flourish at the beginning of the 18th century.e century, then the automobile industry in the 20the and XXIe centuries, of which it bears the marks of the ups and downs today.
Separated by Highway 94, GM’s ZERO plant and the Packard Automotive Plant face each other. The first is at the cutting edge of technology. The second is a field of ruins. Fences surround disused reinforced concrete buildings that hosted the Packard factory from 1903 to 1958, then techno parties and raves in the 1990s.
Connections between parties and associations
During his stay in the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville was surprised to see the important role played by associations of all kinds in American democracy. “Americans of all ages, of all conditions, of all minds, are constantly uniting,” he wrote.
Workers’ associations multiplied in the United States in the wake of the industrial revolution; they subsequently had connections with the Democratic Party. Large business associations, for their part, tend to establish ties with the Republican Party.
However, we had to wait until September 26, 2023 to see a President of the United States physically side with striking employees, in this case the members of the UAW. They are demanding increased pay and retirement benefits, the establishment of a four-day work week, and stronger protections against gasoline-vehicle plant closures, which will be inevitable as production of electric vehicles will accelerate. “You, the workers of the UAW, saved the auto industry in 2008 and before. You have made a lot of sacrifices. You have given up a lot. But today, [les constructeurs automobiles] are doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should do the same,” Joe Biden says through a megaphone, inviting strikers on the picket line set up in front of a GM office building in Belleville to hold on.
The union president welcomes the presence of Mr. Biden where Walter Reuther successfully led the first strike against a parts supplier, before taking over the management of UAW. As head of the union from 1946 to 1970, he participated in almost all the struggles, including those for civil rights, for universal health care, for women’s rights, for public education, for affordable housing, for the environment and for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Walter Reuther was so far ahead that, in 1960, Republican Richard Nixon expressed concern that his Democratic opponent John F. Kennedy might “ [devoir] his election to a political boss like Walter Reuther, and therefore be his prisoner” if he finds himself in the White House after the presidential election. “I can’t think of anything more damaging to this nation,” he said.
Sixty-four years later, UAW President Shawn Fain may have pushed the three automakers to inject $12 billion more than expected into improving the working conditions of their employees, which ended their strike on October 30, 2023, he does not convince everyone, including in his own ranks, to support the Democratic Party.
“I’m a Republican. The union has its own agenda. I have mine,” says Scott behind the wheel of his sport utility vehicle after his shift at GM’s ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
“I voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. I will do the same thing in 2024,” says Mike, before heading towards East Grand Boulevard. “Too bad for what the union thinks and says. »
The revolution starts here. Really ?
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat-International Journalism Fund.Duty.