President Joe Biden is set to join members of the United Auto Workers union Tuesday in Wayne County, Michigan, walking the picket line on the eve of a visit from former President Donald Trump.

The trip comes as Biden faces consistently low polling numbers on his handling of economic issues, and, back in Washington, the looming threat of a government shutdown this week. Both a prolonged strike and a shutdown could have economic consequences – something the White House is seeking to avoid as Biden tries to convince voters his economic policies are working. He’s also appearing in the battleground state of Michigan just one day before his chief political rival – whom he defeated in the 2020 presidential election – comes to the crucial swing state to make his own appeal to union workers.

Trump, the front-runner in the GOP presidential primary race, is scheduled to skip the second Republican debate to deliver a prime-time speech to an audience of current and former union members, including from the UAW, in Detroit on Wednesday. Trump has slammed the president for the visit, claiming Biden “had no intention” of walking the picket line until Trump said he would make a speech in Michigan.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I’m an NDP party supporter in Ontario in Canada. The New Democratic Party here is the left leaning party in Canada. It’s the third major party here with the Liberals to the right of us and the Conservatives to the right of the Liberals.

    Just because we have a left leaning party doesn’t mean that everyone supports it. It’s a freaking weird discovery when you dig into party loyalties and where individual members lay their priorities.

    The average manual labourer and blue collar worker will fight tooth and nail for workers rights, their jobs, their rights and their safety and well being. They’ll throw their organizational support to the NDP to defend those rights.

    But when it comes to voting as individual people … the majority of them are conservatives at heart.

    It’s a sobering thought … as a group they’re social liberals … but as individuals they are conservatives.

    I’ve been to NDP party conventions where I was warned about this. Just because a group of people support your party for one reason, it doesn’t mean it’s members support everything you stand for.

    It’s the main reason why socially minded parties don’t get ahead … they are supported by single issue groups that don’t vote and only advocate for a cause … and the individual members are easily swayed to vote for the parties they are fighting against.

    It’s freaking weird.

    • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Walk down the aisle of most union manufacturing facilities in the US, and you will see Trump sticker after Trump sticker after Trump sticker on people’s toolboxes. In a Union shop. This would have been unheard of a generation ago. Their Union representatives talk the big talk about supporting Democrats, but the rank-and-file union members go team Traitor. So pardon me while I have little support for all the union discussions in recent years because ultimately Democrats are fighting the good fight only to end up helping people who will vote these same Democrats out of office. And then don’t even get me started on Police unions. The clowns in here and claim all they want that police unions aRe DiFfErEnT, but in the end, they really aren’t. Police unions serve the same purpose that regular unions do, and that is defend the rank-and-file at all costs and that means keeping the bad apples from being fired.