I lead the Michigan AFL-CIO. Trump has never shown up for union workers. | Opinion

When Donald Trump’s private jet touches down in Michigan tonight, working people know what to expect from the former president. Underneath his multimillionaire-class status and luxurious private estates, his $100,000 plated Bedminster dinners and Mar-a-Lago golden galas, he’ll claim to lend a hand to working people. It’s the same lie he told us in 2016, when he first ran for president.

But there’s a critical difference now: Trump has a record. And that record was nothing short of catastrophic for workers, highlighting an open hostility especially to union families. He never cared about our jobs. Or our wages. Or our pensions and health care. Or even our safety. Trump just cared about making his rich buddies even richer at our expense.

Let’s be very clear: He doesn’t deserve the labor movement's support — or the support of any working-class person across this country — in 2024.

Autoworkers are fighting for their lives, and as a third-generation member of the United Auto Workers myself, now leading the largest labor federation in Michigan, I find it shameful Trump would attempt to use the strike line to score political points when his record goes against everything the labor movement stands for.

Donald Trump says he supports workers. His track record on labor shows otherwise.

As Trump shows up in Detroit, let’s remember that "showing up" is the last thing he did for us as president. He spent the run-up to 2016 talking a big game: about how workers were getting screwed, how we needed to turn the tide on exporting jobs and importing products. It was all true.

What happened next? He spent four years doing the bidding of billionaires and wealthy companies, overhauling the tax code for the benefit of those who claim more than their fair share of our profits and outsource our jobs. He spent four years sitting on his hands when it came to infrastructure — doing nothing to invest in rebuilding our country or create good jobs in Michigan that sustain families and communities.

Biden has driven historic investments in auto industry

Compare that to what we have seen over the past few years under President Joe Biden. The Biden Administration has driven historic investments in our auto industry, including a $7 billion investment in four new manufacturing sites across the state. President Biden has brought more than $5 billion in federal funding to rebuild our roads, bridges, and roadways, along with restoring our Great Lakes and securing clean water for millions across the state.

He’s made the crucial investment in upgrading the Soo locks — a critical entry point for commerce, agriculture, and military, where 7,000 vessels and 90 percent of our country’s iron ore moves through every single year.

The result is real, tangible results for Michigan workers in just a few short years. We have seen an absolute boom in Michigan job creation, with more than 330,000 jobs added since January 2021. Unemployment has dropped significantly, rebounding from the pandemic and accelerated by investments in working people through policies like the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We have more resilient homes, businesses, and communities in the face of the climate crisis. Health care costs have gone down for families — as almost 2 million people across the state benefit from the caps on insulin and prescription drug costs. The list goes on and on and on.

Michigan GOP in shambles: Party chair Kristina Karamo's first conference was a poorly attended conspiracy fest.

We need a president who understands worker solidarity

We still have work to do. Even with these federal investments, we need to make sure every job — from the auto workers building electric vehicles to the workers repaving our roads to the engineers restoring our bridges — is a good, safe, family-sustaining, union job. No matter our industry, we need to come together in support of the UAW and all workers as we fight for a good future on the job for all of us.

To do that, we need someone in the White House who understands the importance of worker solidarity. It’s not Donald Trump — who restricted overtime pay, who opposed wage increases, who gutted health and safety protections during COVID, who appointed hundreds of anti-worker judges, and who fought against our very basic freedom to organize and join a union. It’s not Donald Trump — who cannot even say, point blank, that he is on the side of the workers in any fight we have to create a better life for ourselves and our families.

He is a charlatan, plain and simple, who thinks he can use us to enrich himself and his buddies. We’re smarter and stronger than he gives us credit for. Michigan and working people are on the rise — and from now until Election Day, we should let Trump know we deserve a lot better than him.

Ron Bieber is president of the Michigan AFL-CIO.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump Michigan rally is a lie. Don't forget his anti-union hostility