this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, supporting their call for a 40% pay raise and saying they deserve a "lot more" than they are getting.

Biden's appearance, the first visit by a U.S. president to striking workers in modern history, comes a day before Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for president, will speak to auto workers in Michigan. The rare back-to-back events highlight the importance of union support in the 2024 presidential election, even though unions represent a tiny fraction of U.S. workers.

Democrat Biden traveled to a Belleville, Michigan, parts distribution center owned by General Motors (GM.N), and joined dozens of picketers outside. "Companies were in trouble, now they're doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too," Biden said through a bullhorn. "Stick with it."

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[–] Blackbeard@lemmy.world 180 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Biden: "You should get paid more."

Trump: indicted for 91 crimes and found liable for decades of tax fraud

Michigan Republicans: ¯\(ツ)

[–] drewdarko@kbin.social 86 points 11 months ago (1 children)

“Both sides are the same!”

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

They are when it comes to wages.

The federal minimum wage has been 7 bucks for fifteen years. Both sides have had a total majority with the presidency in that time frame.

Literally the same.

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 0 points 11 months ago (5 children)
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[–] roboticide@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Our state GOP was totally hijacked by MAGA radicals and now answers to Karamo, who's an utter nut job and die-hard Trump loyalist.

But they've gone so far a lot of moderate Republicans feel alienated and with our new balanced voting districts Democrats will probably secure victory for the foreseeable future. It still will be a tight race, but I would not be surprised if Biden's margin in 2024 is bigger in Michigan than it was in 2020.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 35 points 11 months ago (5 children)

40% = 8.77% a year during 4 years.

[–] onionbaggage@lemmynsfw.com 10 points 11 months ago

More than reasonable.

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[–] atempuser23@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This could be the start of something good. The 40% number isn't out of thin air. It is the amount the CEO got his pay raised to . Unions can tie exec raises to worker pay in a way that boards aren't doing.

[–] Luvs2Spuj@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I agree if its done correctly.

Got to be careful about execs getting paid through shares. My CEO gets millions in shares but only gets paid like 120k. This gets reused in certain indexes and pitched as being a decent ratio of executive to drone pay ratios.

[–] atempuser23@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

True, but unions as an external force can simply state the exec total pay package rose by 25% in value. "pay us" The problem has been looking to the boards installed by investors to cut their own pay. My hope is boards will cool down on huge exec bonuses if it means they may have to do the same for workers.

[–] ech@lemm.ee 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hopefully he keeps the same message when the executives refuse to make a reasonable offer and "the economy" might suffer again.

[–] Wilziac@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't think it's as likely that the Feds break this strike like they did with the railroads. Their argument against the rails was that almost every other industry relies on them to move product, while having fewer new cars will only effect the new and used car markets. With however hundreds of millions of usable vehicles that are already out there, this strike doesn't really have the same opportunity to spill over to the larger economy.

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[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I think this would mean more if he actually stood up for the railway workers during their strike.

[–] GR_Pete@midwest.social 97 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)
[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Far less than they asked for, and did nothing towards meeting their other major demands such as Precision Scheduled Railroading.

If Biden was incapable or unwilling to force the rail companies to give better terms, he should have stayed out of it.

[–] paultimate14@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Far less than they asked for

Have you ever heard of the word "negotiation"? Why aren't you talking about how the result was "far less than what the rail companies asked for"?

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[–] SeedyOne@lemmy.ca 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Then perhaps they shouldn't have accepted it and striked as planned? The fact that it wasn't "enough" for the workers isn't on the POTUS and doesn't negate his actions.

[–] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They kind of kick-started this years huge labor push. Sure, it was bubbling up for a while before the rail unions decided to take action but they were the first "big" players to threaten a strike in a while. It's easy to say that from the sidelines after the fact but they were being vilified by national media 24/7 for weeks, getting a bunch of pressure from Congress and being threatened to have the book thrown at them if they decided to strike. They were early to the party and didn't have all of it's completely understandable.

It's also completely valid to criticize Biden for not doing enough when it really mattered, he could've put more pressure on Congress, he could've visited the workers and given his approval. He's clearly capable of these things when it suits his interests, why didn't he do any of that for the rail unions? Surely they could've used the help. Why was "working in the background" good enough for them but all of a sudden it's insufficient for the UAW?

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The labor movement is a positive feedback loop of direct action. I'm still contending with the fact that I'm a major player in the labor movement within tech, but I can trace the labor action of the last few months directly to CODE-CWA forming to help organize Google workers in 2020. Labor action fuels labor action. The ABK Workers Alliance were inspired by Paizo, who inspired Vodeo Workers United, who inspired ABKWA members to unionize at Raven into GWA, who inspired more tech unions to form, who inspired SBWU to perform militant labor actions, who inspired WGA and SAG-AFTRA (they work in the games industry).

Edit: I feel like downvotes are coming from my claim about being a major player in the labor movement. Without revealing who I am or where I work, my workplace will be the largest union in tech when we file, beating ZWU by approximately 160 people. I'm the lead organizer of this campaign, and we have approximately 40% card saturation (the campaign started very abnormally). There is almost 0% chance anyone has seen my name outside of my home town, except my labor actions have placed me on an obscure games media podcast talking about GDC, in a picture of a CWA newsletter, and I was quoted on an article from WSJ regarding my activism.

[–] SeedyOne@lemmy.ca 4 points 11 months ago

Criticism is totally fine and often deserved, I'm just saying using the rail strike (or any past Biden ball-drops) as a measuring stick for this one servers little purpose and detracts from the core issue. He should be held to task for those things when it comes election time, not fielding "but what about XYZ?" statements.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Launching an illegal strike is far different from launching a legally protected strike. They'd have to accept the possibility that everyone loses their jobs and some people might even get taken to court. Things just aren't that bad yet.

[–] SeedyOne@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago

Fair point! Thanks.

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[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 40 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (29 children)
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[–] gsf@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 11 months ago
[–] doingthestuff@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Why isn't he championing a massive raise in minimum wage? Everyone other than the rich are struggling. Is he just trying to make cars even more expensive than they already have gotten here? I'm in my 40s and my first house cost less than an average new car today. Help all the people, man.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@discuss.tchncs.de 43 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Republicans blocked Biden's previous attempt to raise the minimum wage so not a lot of use to try again unless there is some more pressure.

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[–] bobman@unilem.org 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The problem is that owners are profiting off of labor while not doing any real work themselves.

The rich need to make less profit so 'everyone other than the rich' can have more. It's that simple, not sure why it needs to be spelled out for you.

This should not be paid for by raising prices. It should be paid for by people wealthier than you making less profit while still being wealthier than you can ever hope to be.

I’m in my 40s and my first house cost less than an average new car today.

That's because people like you don't understand how basic economics work, so you're routinely taken advantage of by people who do.

[–] ArthurParkerhouse@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

The 4-Day Workweek is more important.

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