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The Race For 2024

Re: the speech from the picket line, I kept thinking about how Obama would NEVER have done that, not in a million years. Biden is often talked about as though his administrstionjust the next stage of a machine the Obamas set in motion, but the truth is more complicated.
 
ZiprHead said:
The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things.
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Why?
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A president owes his position to the business owners. He owes nothing to the line workers except for vague platitudes and usually empty promises. But openly taking the side of a corporation lokks bad on a Democrat, so they usually pretend there's some sort of mysterious nobility about being non-committal.
 
Politesse said:
ZiprHead said:
The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things.
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Why?
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A president owes his position to the business owners.
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No, he doesn't.

Politesse said:
He owes nothing to the line workers except for vague platitudes and usually empty promises. But openly taking the side of a corporation lokks bad on a Democrat, so they usually pretend there's some sort of mysterious nobility about being non-committal.
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Biden, from the start of his term, has taken the side of the little guy on almost all the issues. It's working for him. He's actually doing the things Trump promised to do but never did. They were empty platitudes and promises for Trump, not Biden.

It also brings a stark contrast between Biden and Trump on the labor union question itself. Trump has a history of screwing workers and taking the management side in labor disputes. Biden is a clearly bright star in the growing popularity of labor unions in general. Young people are very much in favor of labor unions today. He just made their 2024 choice that much clearer for them.
 
www.freep.com

I lead the Michigan AFL-CIO. Trump has never shown up for union workers. | Opinion

As Donald Trump shows up during the UAW strike in Detroit, let's remember that 'showing up' is the last thing he did for unions as president.
www.freep.com
When Donald Trump’s private jet touches down in Michigan tonight, working people know what to expect from the former president. Underneath his multimillionaire-class status and luxurious private estates, his $100,000 plated Bedminster dinners and Mar-a-Lago golden galas, he’ll claim to lend a hand to working people. It’s the same lie he told us in 2016, when he first ran for president.

But there’s a critical difference now: Trump has a record. And that record was nothing short of catastrophic for workers, highlighting an open hostility especially to union families. He never cared about our jobs. Or our wages. Or our pensions and health care. Or even our safety. Trump just cared about making his rich buddies even richer at our expense.

Let’s be very clear: He doesn’t deserve the labor movement's support — or the support of any working-class person across this country — in 2024.
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More details in the link.
 
ZiprHead said:
Biden, from the start of his term, has taken the side of the little guy on almost all the issues. It's working for him. He's actually doing the things Trump promised to do but never did. They were empty platitudes and promises for Trump, not Biden.
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Yes, I noticed. Hence my comment about how unusual his tenure has been.
 
ZiprHead said:
So Trumpy has a rally at a non-union plant to woo UAW members.

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Sadly, that will probably work for him.
 
lpetrich said:
Obama’s auto task force head rips Biden for joining UAW picket line | The Hill
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Rattner is correct. Biden siding with UAW and Sean Fein is yet another sign of his lurch to the Left.

Especially given how unreasonable UAW demands are. >40% pay increase but 20% less work. Guaranteed payment of workers whose factories get shut down in the future. But that will not be possible if anything close to these demands are actually caved to by Detroit carmakers. All it will do is make them less competitive.

“For him to be going on a picket line is outrageous,” Rattner, a former journalist who later worked in private equity, said in an interview with NBC News. “There’s no precedent for it. The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things.”
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Exactly.
 
Biden was likely on that picket line, because he needs Michigan in his column. Auto industry management would prefer he took their side, but they don't cast many votes. Biden has always been strongly pro-union, so it would be a sham if he pretended to be neutral. As for presidents being neutral in labor disputes, tell that to air traffic controllers.
 
Copernicus said:
Biden was likely on that picket line, because he needs Michigan in his column. Auto industry management would prefer he took their side, but they don't cast many votes. Biden has always been strongly pro-union, so it would be a sham if he pretended to be neutral. As for presidents being neutral in labor disputes, tell that to air traffic controllers.
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Good catch. I guess not so traditional as thought.
 
Copernicus said:
Biden was likely on that picket line, because he needs Michigan in his column. Auto industry management would prefer he took their side, but they don't cast many votes. Biden has always been strongly pro-union, so it would be a sham if he pretended to be neutral.
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It's still poor form, even if we know why he did it.
UAW under the new extremist leader is making very unreasonable demands. If they hold firm, and the strike lasts, it might damage the economy of Michigan. And that would endanger Biden carrying Michigan.

A smarter approach would have been to work with both sides and not endorse UAW demands publicly.

As for presidents being neutral in labor disputes, tell that to air traffic controllers.
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Very different matter, since with air traffic controllers, the federal government is the employer.
 
Derec said:
Biden siding with UAW and Sean Fein
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Who is Sean Fein?

I'm going to guess that you might mean Sinn Féin, the Irish political party. Joe Biden has been a supporter of Irish Republicanism for a very long time, and hasn't made a secret of it, so it would be rather strange if he didn't side with Sinn Féin.

If there is a person called Sean Fein, then I have never heard of him, and have no clue why Joe Biden should or shouldn't side with him.
 
It's UAW President Shawn Fain | UAW

UAW 2023 strike update: Why the UAW is striking at GM, Ford, and Stellantis and how long the strike might last - Vox
First it was the writers. Then it was the actors. Now, it’s the auto workers who are on strike after the United Auto Workers and Detroit’s Big Three — Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis (which owns Chrysler) — have failed to reach a deal in labor negotiations. This one is going to be a doozy as the UAW seeks to wrestle back some of the profits the automakers have been raking in.

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After midnight Friday, September 15, when the deadline for a new contract passed, some 12,700 workers at a Ford plant in Wayne, Michigan, a GM plant in Wentzville, Missouri, and a Stellantis plant in Toledo, Ohio, walked off the job. It marked the first time the UAW is striking at all three car companies. A week later, on Friday, September 22, the UAW announced that parts distribution workers at 38 GM and Stellantis locations in 20 states would go on strike.

The auto workers are using a tactic of “stand-up” strikes, where the union will call on workers at specific plants to strike while others keep working under their expired contracts.

“All options remain on the table,” said UAW President Shawn Fain in a speech on Facebook Live on the evening of September 14. “National leadership will determine the appropriate targets and timing for further stand-up strike action. This is our generation’s defining moment. The money is there, the cause is righteous, the world is watching, and the UAW is ready to stand up.”

In an update message delivered on September 22, Fain reiterated that the union’s stand-up strategy was designed to do one thing, “win record contracts after years of record profits.” He noted that the union wasn’t escalating against Ford, which has moved more in recent days. “We do want to recognize that Ford is serious about reaching a deal. At GM and Stellantis, it’s a different story,” he said.
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Stand Up Strike FAQs | UAW

Today on the line with @uaw2250 in Missouri. | Instagram
“Solidarity is the strategy. Us sticking together breaks up their approach. They don’t know what to do when people are unified.” | Instagram - AOC speaking at a UAW rally last Sunday; Cori Bush was also there.
 
lpetrich said:
Obama’s auto task force head rips Biden for joining UAW picket line | The Hill
Steven Rattner, the head of former President Obama’s auto industry task force, called President Biden’s visit to Michigan and a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line “outrageous” in a Wednesday interview.

“For him to be going on a picket line is outrageous,” Rattner, a former journalist who later worked in private equity, said in an interview with NBC News. “There’s no precedent for it. The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things.”
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Seriously, he can fuck off! US Government has been supporting the US Auto Industry in massive ways, and has ALWAYS had their back. Going out and saying I support your right to make money by working for an American company is not very controversial at all.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
lpetrich said:
Obama’s auto task force head rips Biden for joining UAW picket line | The Hill
Steven Rattner, the head of former President Obama’s auto industry task force, called President Biden’s visit to Michigan and a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line “outrageous” in a Wednesday interview.

“For him to be going on a picket line is outrageous,” Rattner, a former journalist who later worked in private equity, said in an interview with NBC News. “There’s no precedent for it. The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things.”
Click to expand...
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Seriously, he can fuck off! US Government has been supporting the US Auto Industry in massive ways, and has ALWAYS had their back. Going out and saying I support your right to make money by working for an American company is not very controversial at all.
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Exactly. Neutrality never favors the underdog.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
lpetrich said:
Obama’s auto task force head rips Biden for joining UAW picket line | The Hill
Steven Rattner, the head of former President Obama’s auto industry task force, called President Biden’s visit to Michigan and a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line “outrageous” in a Wednesday interview.

“For him to be going on a picket line is outrageous,” Rattner, a former journalist who later worked in private equity, said in an interview with NBC News. “There’s no precedent for it. The tradition of the president is to stay neutral in these things.”
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Seriously, he can fuck off! US Government has been supporting the US Auto Industry in massive ways, and has ALWAYS had their back. Going out and saying I support your right to make money by working for an American company is not very controversial at all.
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Not to mention private equity companies do huge damage to local economies, so he can just STFU.
 
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