The United Auto Workers (UAW) union endorsed Kamala Harris for US president on Wednesday, boosting the vice-president in the swing state of Michigan as her recently launched campaign ramps up.
UAW president Shawn Fain, who spoke by phone last week with Harris, praised her record “of delivering for the working class” and said she “will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed”.
The 370,000-member UAW said its executive board voted to endorse her after endorsing Joe Biden’s re-election bid in January. The US president withdrew from the race on 21 July.
Many UAW members live and work in Michigan, where the union is based. Biden and Donald Trump have made campaign appearances there.
Prior to Biden ending his re-election bid, Reuters reported that the UAW’s executive board met to discuss concerns about his ability to beat the former president.
Fain has criticized Trump for months, telling a conference in Baltimore earlier this month: “It’s clear that Donald Trump in the White House would be a complete disaster for the working class.”
Trump returned barbs at Fain at this month’s Republican national convention, calling for the union chief to be “fired immediately”. Trump said the auto union failed to prevent Chinese automakers from building large auto factories in Mexico to ship products to the US.
While the UAW has traditionally endorsed Democratic candidates, it forged an even deeper relationship with Biden when he became the first sitting president to walk a picket line in Detroit last September during a six-week strike against Ford Motor, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis.
The UAW won record deals after the walkout, including a 25% wage increase over the life of the contract and the return of cost-of-living adjustments.
Other prominent unions have switched their endorsements from Biden to Harris, but some have been slower to do so. The Teamsters, which represents 1.3 million workers in several industries, including packing and shipping, has not made an endorsement.
Teamsters president Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican convention but offered no endorsement of Trump. A Teamsters spokesperson said this week the union has invited Harris to meet with the union but received no response.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
