President Joe Biden wears a number of nicknames that signal his original membership in — and longtime advocacy for — the working class. “Amtrak Joe” and “Scranton Joe” are two of those monikers — and Biden, who relishes the association, has been working hard to add “Union Joe” to the mix.
In September, Biden became the first sitting U.S. President to join a picket line, siding unequivocally with unionized workers in the United Auto Workers labor dispute. The appearance saw UAW chief Shawn Fain thank Biden and the White House crafted a dramatic video, replete with a symphonic score, to commemorate the moment.
This week Biden congratulated the UAW on its victorious strike against the Big 3 automakers with a speech at a unionized factory in Belvidere, Illinois.
Reminding workers that he stood “shoulder to shoulder” with them while his “predecessor went to a non-union shop and attacked you,” Biden worked to cement the relationship with union workers that his picket line appearance meant to foster — and to win their votes. (Despite his advocacy, Biden hasn’t yet been given Fain’s and the UAW’s endorsement for 2024.)
President Biden to UAW workers: I stood with you shoulder-to-shoulder on that picket line. My predecessor went to a non-union shop and attacked you pic.twitter.com/wqz5tEMex0
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) November 9, 2023
In mentioning former President Donald Trump, if not by name, in the clip above, Biden expressed a hope that is critical to his campaign: that voters won’t forget — despite a barrage of propaganda from his opponents — that he has delivered on numerous promises.
In Belvidere, Biden asked to be taken on his record, saying to the crowd: “I hope you guys have a memory.”
Biden told the assembled workers: “Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America. And unions built the middle class.” Biden’s full appearance is below.
At Trump’s non-union shop appearance, which Biden references, the former President implied the UAW strike was ultimately worthless because the electric vehicle transition favored by the Biden administration would soon crater manufacturing in the auto sector.
Trump told his gathering: “You’re all on picket lines and everything, but it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what you get because in two years — you’re all going to be out of business. You’re not getting anything. What they’re doing to the auto industry in Michigan and throughout the country is absolutely horrible and ridiculous.”
