Dressed in a sweater and shirt, without a tie, President Joe Biden took the megaphone and, like one of the strikers, addressed the rest of the participants in the protest.
"Wall Street didn't build the country, the middle class built the country," he proclaimed. "You deserve what you've earned and you've earned much more than what you're being paid," said Biden, who became the first US president to join a picket line.
It happened in Wayne, Michigan, at the plant of the Ford company, one of three companies, along with General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), whose workers, affiliated with the UAW union, are on strike. It is the first time that the employees of the three big Detroit automotive companies have coordinated a protest in unison.
"The truth is that you, the UAW, saved the auto industry in 2008," he remarked. "You made a lot of sacrifices, you gave up a lot when the companies had problems. Now they work amazingly well. you know what It should be incredibly good for you too", he insisted.
The workers are asking for wages to be updated by 40% over the next four years. It is the approximate amount by which the directors' remuneration has been increased, despite the fact that it is based on a much higher initial figure. Biden seemed to endorse the request, cheered by the congregants, to which he responded with a "yes".
"The enemy today is not the companies of a foreign country. They are here, among us, the enemy is corporate greed”, said Shawn Fain, president of the union, while Biden listened to him with a cap and the slogan “Union yes”.
"And the weapon we produce to fight this enemy are the liberators, the true liberators, which is the working class, the middle class," added Fain. "We know that the president will do what is right for the working class," he reiterated.
It was an extraordinary image, the one left by Biden. The White House insisted that the president only wanted to show solidarity, but that in no case did he try to interfere in the negotiations. However, his mere presence was already interpreted by many of the demonstrators as a support for the demands and he received the condemnation of the employers.
Presidents of the United States tend to go around the country and visit companies in addition to honoring the managers, who are praised as creators of employment and wealth. The needy only appear in the photo as cheerleaders.
Joe Biden on Tuesday broke all the schemes. The expression "historic day" was repeated until tired to be the first president on a picket.
This is the nation that flies the flag of capitalism and capitalists, but in times of tight elections, the votes of blue-collar workers count as much as those of white-collar executives, and even more so .
Biden, heading to California to meet with the so-called Democratic elites, stopped at the Wayne factory, where the workers have been protesting for almost two weeks.
Donald Trump is scheduled to go to Detroit today to discuss the issue. The former president decided to take this step to skip the second debate of the Republican candidates in the 2024 election. Trump is the absolute leader of this race and does not want to expose himself. Therefore, he chooses to go and do populism in Michigan, a state he won in 2016, but lost in 2020. The working vote was decisive there.
