The visit is not trivial. Joe Biden announced that he would go to an automobile sector strike picket in Michigan on Tuesday, September 26. “It is time for a win-win agreement” between manufacturers and the powerful United Auto Workers (UAW) union, said the American president in a message on (ex-Twitter). This date is not chosen at random: the next day, his rival Donald Trump will give, in the same state, a speech on this unprecedented mobilization.
Started almost a week ago, the social movement in the automobile sector continues to grow among the main manufacturers, due to lack of progress in the negotiations. General Motors and Stellantis are particularly targeted. The UAW union announced this Friday, September 22 that 38 spare parts distribution centers of the two giants are now affected by the mobilization, in 20 different states. That is 5,600 UAW members now on strike, out of the 146,000 working in these centers.
Ford spared from the amplification of the strike
This new strike comes in addition to those of three assembly plants, one for each manufacturer: General Motors, Stellantis and Ford. The employees of the latter launched a historic mobilization on September 15, while the signed collective agreements expired without agreement for the next ones. Nearly 13,000 of the 146,000 UAW union members working for the “Big Three” had simultaneously stopped working. A first.
Among the UAW’s main demands, one is particularly symbolic: a salary increase of 40% over four years, the same as the group leaders have benefited from over the past four years. At Ford, “real progress” was nevertheless highlighted by the unions, such as a salary indexation clause to inflation or compensation of up to two years in the event of technical unemployment. Enough to prevent the mobilization from spreading to other sites of the manufacturer, but not for the mobilization to stop at its assembly site in Wayne, Michigan. These advances could serve as a reference for employees of General Motors and Stellantis.
The 2024 presidential election already in sight
For Joe Biden, self-proclaimed “the most pro-union president in American history”, appearing alongside striking employees represents a clear political message. Because large-scale mobilizations are increasing in the United States. In 2022, the railway workers threatened to cease their activity, before obtaining a sector agreement taking up part of their demands. The film industry has also been engaged in a standoff for nearly five months against Hollywood behemoths like Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros.
But the automobile industry is of strategic importance for the American president. This unprecedented movement in the sector allows it to plan towards the campaign for the presidential election of 2024, while the issues of purchasing power and inflation should largely occupy the debates. The strike, above all, allows it to occupy the ground in a key state. “Automotive unions have always played a big role in the presidential election. This is due to a simple reason: the bulk of the sector is concentrated in the state of Michigan, where the vote swings between the Republican and Democratic parties,” explained to L’Express Alí R. Bustamante, director of the program on worker power and economic security at the American think tank Roosevelt Institute.
The latter detailed that “if the administration supports the UAW, this could help the Democratic camp secure Michigan, which is a key state in the presidential election.” In 2016, Donald Trump managed to swing Michigan into the Republican camp, before seeing Joe Biden and the Democrats win this swing-state in 2020. The expected face-to-face between Joe Biden and Donald Trump for 2024 already seems to be well underway.