UAW members continue to strike against the Big Three automakers. Last month, Joe Biden became the first sitting U.S. President to join a picket line outside a General Motors facility in Michigan.
"You guys, the UAW - you saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before. You made a lot of sacrifices. You gave up a lot. And the companies were in trouble. But now they're doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well too," said Biden, speaking through a bullhorn as he urged strikers to "stick with it."
Jeffrey Purcell is president of UAW Local 3039 in Rockland County whose members joined the strike on September 22nd.
"President Biden coming into standing with the working class people, I feel it's great for the economy," Purcell said. "It's great for the UAW. Any political man that's going to come stand behind workers, that working class of America, and show support to the middle class workers is phenomenal. And, you know, we'll accept any support we can against these corporations that are doing their best to try and divide us and try to not give us our fair share."
United University Professions president Fred Kowal agrees Biden’s action was inspiring. "It's really indicative of how much of a friend that President Biden has been to workers and to unions, both in terms of legislation that has been passed major legislation on infrastructure of the inflation Reduction Act and the green transformation and the requirement that there be union workers. He in his heart and soul understands the importance of unions in building a middle class in building a stronger American economy that is more equitable and more fair," said Kowal.
Capital District Area Labor Federation Director Mark Emanatian says he and his colleagues are all in solidarity with the United Auto Workers. "The Big Three automakers make so much money and there are terrible things, the tier system in the auto workers, where there's several different tiers, and the lowest paid workers get $18 an hour, where a great percentage of workers are temporary workers, who get no benefits and work part-time but work 12-hour days, and sometimes they've been temporary workers for over two years, working 12-hour days, which isn't temporary at all. So we're all in on that. We're urging everybody from everywhere, for all stripes, to do solidarity with them," Emanatian said.
Emanatian sees Biden's walk on the picket line as a watershed moment.
"I think it's a big deal that a president of the United States for the first time as far as I can tell, historically, that a sitting president, that's somebody that, you know, is no longer president, but a former president was sitting president walking a picket line with striking workers. I think it's a big deal. I think it'll help the strike. I think it'll help in solidarity with them. And I think it's I think it's very important,” said Emanatian.
Purcell is asking all Americans to support striking workers.
"Some people might just look at what the union is asking for. And just think that uh, you know, it's a bit much and think that you know, there's not it's not reasonable, but I encourage everybody to research the facts. One thing that President Shawn Fain is really good at, is putting the facts out for people and explaining exactly why and what he's asking for and why we want the things that we want. I encourage everybody to go online, research, look up the facts, and actually see the reason why we have the demands that we have and beliefs, why we're actually out on strike right now," Purcell said.
The Big Three automakers say they have been negotiating with the UAW, but a chief executive at General Motors contends union leaders have “no real intent to get to an agreement.” An official at Ford said Friday that the company and the UAW were “very close” to a deal.
