In a Labour Day speech on Monday, President Joe Biden took multiple verbal shots at his predecessor, hoping to utilise his administration’s record to counter the gains that Donald Trump has made among the base of Biden’s political alliance.
Biden delivered a pointed economic message to the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 19 in Philadelphia, referring to Trump as “the last guy” and “the guy who held this job before me.”
Because of you, Biden continued, “we’re turning things around.” Your previous employee said, “You were sending jobs to China when he was here. We are currently relocating jobs back from China. Your retirement funds were in jeopardy when the last person was here. With your aid, we were able to protect millions in pensions. The previous tenant had a Park Avenue perspective. As I sit here in Scranton, Pennsylvania, I take a look. As I sit here in Claymont, Delaware, I take a look.
Some time later, he referred to Trump as “a great real estate builder, the last guy – who really didn’t build a damn thing.”
To court the union members who have been his backbone for decades, Vice President Biden recently visited the City of Brotherly Love, one of his most frequent stops on presidential trips. Though the president enjoys the support of union bosses and was quickly endorsed by major unions like the AFL-CIO, SEIU, and IBEW after announcing his reelection bid, his popularity among regular union members has declined in recent years, and some of them have been wooed by the former president.
Notably, the United Auto Workers have not yet endorsed him for president in 2024. The UAW is embroiled in a dispute with the Big Three automakers. The White House is treading dangerous waters as it tries to encourage both sides to reach an agreement before a costly strike occurs in less than two weeks.
On Monday, Acting Labour Secretary Julie Su told AWN’s Phil Mattingly that despite appearances to the contrary, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the three unionised automakers in the United States (Ford, GM, and Stellantis) could be close to reaching an agreement.
Su added, “With UAW, the parties are talking to each other,” and “it always looks like parties are far apart until they are not.”
Before the event, Biden tried to play down the possibility of a strike by claiming he was “not worried about a strike until it happens.”
“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Biden remarked on Monday.
Biden’s decision to help intervene to avoid a probable train strike at the end of 2022 infuriated union members across several industries, even though the president enjoys widespread backing among organised labour. Senior administration officials told AWN in July that the widespread fear among union members was unfounded because there was no evidence that the president would interfere to prevent future strikes.
Although doubts remain, Biden has promoted his status as the “most pro-union president ever” in practically all of his economic speeches. Since becoming vice president, Biden has worked hard to improve his standing in the labour movement.
On Monday, the president declared, “We are replacing trickle-down economics with what everyone on Wall Street is referring to these days as Bidenomics, and guess what? The plan seems to be successful. The economy should be developed from the centre out and the bottom up, rather than the other way around.
“This is not a political statement; it’s an economic statement,” Biden emphasised. To paraphrase a popular saying, “When the middle class does well, everyone does well.”
Bidenomics, he said, is a plan for the American working class. I meant it for you.
Firing Trump appointee and National Labour Relations Board chief counsel Peter Robb on Inauguration Day sent a strong message to labour unions. A month later, he made a social media video in which he voiced his approval of Amazon workers in Alabama organising to form a union. After launching his reelection candidature in 2024, Vice President Joe Biden’s first political stop was at a legislative meeting for North America’s Building Trades Unions, where he reiterated his commitment to union support.
Not only has he met with young organisers just last week, but in May 2022 he met with union representatives from Starbucks and Amazon.
Biden has “given a signal to workers that he’s on their side and they should have a real piece of the pie and they should have obtained the American Dream that has been so elusive over the last few decades,” according to D. Taylor, International President of UNITE HERE, which represents 300,000 workers in the hospitality, manufacturing, transportation, gaming, transportation, and other industries.
After what has been called a “hot labour summer” that has energised unions across the board, this backing is welcome. The Teamsters union voted to approve a contract with UPS, avoiding a strike that could have had a devastating impact on the US economy. Hollywood’s writers and actors are still on strike as they fight studios over the industry’s disruption by streaming services and the potential future destabilisation by artificial intelligence. The United Auto Workers has not wavered in its requests to the big automakers.
Seventy-one percent of Americans support labour unions, according to Gallup’s Work and Education survey from 2022, up from 64 percent before the epidemic and the highest percentage since 1965.
Biden returned to his home state of Pennsylvania on Monday. He has visited Pennsylvania, a key presidential battleground and the state that put him over the 270 electoral vote barrier in 2020, more than two dozen times as president.
His numerous visits to Pennsylvania since taking office have demonstrated how important he and his advisors consider the state to be for his reelection in 2024. Pennsylvania is conveniently located a short distance from the nation’s capital. It has become crucial to Biden’s approach of appealing to the people he needs to vote for him a second time.