09/22/2023

Biden Visit to UAW Strike Would be an Historic Move by a U.S. President

Today, the UAW invited the president to visit their picketing workers

If Joe Biden accepts the United Auto Workers' invitation to visit their picket line, the U.S. President would be showing support to union workers in a labor dispute in a way that has not happened in the United States in more than a century, a presidential historian said.

The UAW on Friday invited Biden to visit workers on its picket lines, and said that it would expand its Detroit strike to parts distribution centers across the United States at General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis. The company said it has made real progress in talks with Ford Motor.

"It's very rare for a president to visit strikers," said Jeremi Suri, a historian and presidential scholar at the University of Texas at Austin. He added that even pro-labor Democratic President Jimmy Carter never visited a picket line. "This would be a major, major shift for Biden to identify the presidency with striking workers, rather than siding with industry or staying above the fray."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Reuters.