UAW leader says Trump will turn labor movement upside down if re-elected
DETROIT: The head of the United Auto Workers union says putting Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket will increase Democrats' chances of winning Michigan and retaining the White House in November.
Shawn Fine said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that former US President Donald Trump is tied to billionaires, knows nothing about the auto industry and would turn the labor movement upside down if re-elected.
Trump has never supported the working class. He has never supported unions. “But he was certainly trying to get our votes right now.”
Fine has become an arch-enemy of the Republican presidential candidate, frequently railing against him at rallies and speeches. Trump has called him an idiot and asked for the votes of auto workers, saying that Fine is putting their jobs at risk by embracing the move to electric cars.
Although the UAW has members across the country, many auto jobs are concentrated in the Great Lakes region and Michigan, a state that could decide the presidential election in November. This week, the UAW backed Harris.
Trump and Harris know that increasing their share of the union vote will give them a better chance of taking Michigan, where the last two presidential elections have been close, said Marik Masters, a business professor emeritus at Wayne State University who follows labor issues.
Trump won the state by just 11,000 votes over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and lost the state to President Joe Biden by nearly 154,000 votes four years later.
Masters said the appeal would help the auto workers win votes from other union members, who have about 556,000 union members in the state. That doesn't include thousands of family members and union retirees, he said. Any fluctuation in these votes will affect the competition.
During his address to the Republican National Convention last month, Trump called on union workers to fine to fire Industry analysts say they are not aware of any such plants being built, at least not yet.
“You should probably get rid of this idiot, this stupid idiot who represents the United Auto Workers,” Trump said at a July 20 rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Trump claimed he would win 95 percent of the UAW vote because Fine is pushing electric cars. “They are going to be made in China,” he said.
He also pledged to bring the auto industry back from ruin if elected.
But this industry is far from being destroyed. According to the Labor Department report, since Biden took office in January 2021, employment in auto and parts manufacturing has increased by 13.8 percent to more than one million people. Detroit-based automakers General Motors, Ford and Stlantis make billions in annual profits.
Fine dismissed the insults as typical Trump behavior. Whatever the man calls his name, label people. “He never has a solution.” This is a leadership problem. You have to find solutions.”
Fine said the move from internal-combustion vehicles to electric-powered vehicles is inevitable, and union members need to be ready for it. He said that during the transition period, car companies will continue to build gas cars and keep factory workers employed.
Trump did nothing for auto workers when General Motors closed its small car assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in 2019, he said. Biden, who announced last month that he was dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris, helped build General Motors. An electric vehicle battery factory in the Lordstown area has replaced some of the lost jobs, Fine said.
On Friday, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee said Harris had won enough delegates to become his party's nominee.
Fine said he was confident Harris would remain an advocate for workers, citing his trip to march with striking General Motors workers in 2019. She was there to give birth.
Among Harris' running mate candidates, Fine said the union prefers Kentucky Gov. Andy Bashir, followed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walls and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Fine said the union does not support Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly because he has opposed a bill that would strengthen union organizing and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro supports school vouchers, which would give tax dollars to private schools. be sent and harm public schools.
But even if Harris doesn't pick a union favorite, the 370,000-member UAW will still have political power behind it, Fine said.
“I think she's a brilliant woman. She's a very strong person,” Fine said. Is.”
In a statement, Trump's campaign called Fine a “Democratic Party puppet” who does not serve unionized workers who support Trump.
“Sean Fein's empty words don't matter – President Trump will take action to fight for the American auto worker,” the statement read.
