ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The United Auto Workers leadership is aggressively backing the Democratic presidential nominee, with the union announcing the launch of a digital and field campaign to take on Donald Trump this November and promising an “all-out effort to elect Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States.”
UAW is also pledging $1.5 million to the Democratic National Committee, the Detroit News reports — and that’s on top of a labor lawsuit it’s filed against the ex-prez for comments he made in a viral X Spaces interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The charges relate to a short exchange in which Trump told Musk, “I look at what you do. You walk in and say, ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike. I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you say, ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone.’”
Why do I call Donald Trump a SCAB, because that’s what he is, if you don’t believe me, let him tell you in his own words! https://t.co/SZJEUFblbI
— Shawn Fain (@ShawnFainUAW) August 13, 2024
Musk’s response was a simple “Yeah,” but that was enough for the union to file federal labor charges against the pair.
“Employers need to be held accountable in this country when they break the law,” UAW President Shawn Fain told CBS. “It is a federal right of workers to go on strike. They cannot be fired for that.”
Fain carries considerable political clout in the Wolverine State, which is home to 134,000 UAW members and 300,000 auto workers — and he’s more outspoken than ever in his opposition to Trump.
It’s difficult to discern how individual UAW members will vote in November, but both Trump and Harris are courting this politically divided demographic in Michigan, a must-win midwestern state.
One UAW member told CNN in June he estimates about 40% of the union’s members support Trump.
Still, the powerhouse auto union’s top brass has stood fiercely opposed to Trump and his candidacy, drawing the ire of the former president, who has called for the Fain to be canned.
”The leader of the United Auto Workers should be fired immediately, and every single auto worker, union and non-union, should be voting for Donald Trump,” Trump told the Republican National Committee audience last month.
Trump and the GOP have sought to win over union members this election cycle and scored a major point in their column with the appearance of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien at the RNC.
Last month, in a good sign for Trump and his party, O’Brien implied his union could work with Republicans.
The Trump campaign has made wooing working-class voters a central part of its strategy, deploying Trump’s running mate, native Ohioan J.D. Vance, to an industrial facility outside Grand Rapids, Mich. this week to show he’s an advocate for the working class.
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