Joe Biden makes history by joining striking US car workers
- The US president – the first to visit a picket line in modern times – told employees that they deserve the ‘significant raise’ they are fighting for
- The strike in Michigan has become the scene of an early confrontation with Trump, who is set to make his own bid for the state’s blue collar votes
Joe Biden joined striking car workers on the picket line in Michigan on Tuesday in a historic first for a sitting US president, a day before rival Donald Trump makes his own bid for the blue collar vote in the battleground electoral state.
Wearing a baseball cap with the logo of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, the 80-year-old Democrat told banner-waving employees through a megaphone that he was on their side.
Republican Trump will visit Michigan on Wednesday, turning the strike into a bitter early confrontation between the two top candidates for an election that is still more than a year away.
Biden told workers that the “Big Three” car makers – Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – were “doing incredibly well and guess what, you should be doing incredibly well too”.
“You deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits,” he said to cheers from the crowd.