Biden gets UAW endorsement after noticeable delay

The United Auto Workers endorsed President Joe Biden for reelection on Wednesday, handing him a coveted political prize months after the White House showed historic support for the union’s agenda.

“This choice is clear: Joe Biden bet on the American worker while Donald Trump blamed the American worker,” UAW President Shawn Fain said at a union conference in Washington, D.C., adding: “If our endorsements must be earned, Joe Biden has earned it.”

Support from blue-collar voters in Michigan, where UAW members are concentrated, and the union's organizational muscle will be crucial for Biden's reelection chances.

Biden addressed union members after Fain, less than a day after the New Hampshire primary all but cemented his general election rematch against former President Donald Trump.

“Let me tell you something I learned a long time ago: If I’m going to be in a fight, I want to be in a fight with you, the UAW. With you — no, I mean it,” Biden told members. “We have a big fight in front of us. We’re fundamentally changing the economy. … The days of working people being dealt out of a deal are over in this country.”

Biden made the unprecedented move of appearing on a UAW picket line during the union’s six-week strike against Detroit automakers last year. He was highly invested in the outcome of the strike, not only to burnish his pro-union credentials — his push to encourage greater production of electric vehicles didn’t sit well with the UAW and was an issue in the contract talks.

Still, Fain and the UAW leadership refrained from endorsing the president until Wednesday, balking at the standard set by the AFL-CIO earlier this year, which issued its earliest-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate.

Fain made clear he didn’t agree with everything the administration was doing on the electric vehicle transition, leaving Biden to walk a fine line as he sought to show support for the union.

The UAW’s invitation to Biden to join its conference this week signaled an endorsement could be on the way, but it kept its plans largely under wraps until Fain took the stage in Washington.

From the start, backing Trump was a nonstarter for UAW leaders. Fain and the union have both bashed the former president for failing to align with working class interests, even as Trump has tried to court working class Michigan voters.

“It’s not about anything but our best shot at taking back power for the working class,” Fain said onstage to chants of “UAW!” from the crowd. “Donald Trump is a scab. Donald Trump is a billionaire, and that’s who he represents.”

Speaking to reporters after the event, Fain said he didn't meet with Trump at all during the UAW's endorsement process. "Talk is cheap" compared to actions, he said.

In deciding on endorsements, the union indicated it was seeking commitments on retirement security, what it sees as a just EV transition and support for union organizing.

“There’s still a lot of unions that are out there that are struggling. I think he should take that into consideration,” Marty Garcia, president of UAW Local 76 in California, said of Biden. “Not just the bigger unions but the smaller unions out there that are facing the same issues that we face.”

Trump is scheduled to meet with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien and union members next week, as that union also has not yet issued a presidential endorsement. The Teamsters invited Biden to a roundtable with members that same day, the union said.

“Working class people are hurting,” Fain said Wednesday. “For decades, we’ve been ignored at best and trampled on at worst. But we are the vast majority of society. We have the numbers, and we have the votes.”

A key policy difference between the UAW and Biden is that the union has called for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza. At the conference Wednesday, a small group of people interrupted Biden’s appearance to call for a cease-fire and unfurl a Palestinian flag, though they were largely shouted down by opposing “UAW” chants.

Fain later characterized the moment as "members exercising their voice" and said he had communicated the union's position on the war to Biden.