Current:Home > FinanceJoe Biden defends UAW strike; tells industry they must share record profits -Thrive Success Strategies
Joe Biden defends UAW strike; tells industry they must share record profits
View
Date:2025-04-16 07:45:43
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden urged Detroit’s Big Three automakers on Friday to share their profits with workers, appearing to tip the scales toward United Auto Workers who walked off the job in a contract dispute with car manufacturers.
Speaking from the White House just hours after 13,000 auto workers went on strike, Biden said auto companies have benefitted from record profits but have not shared them with workers.
“No one wants to strike,” Biden said, but he defended the workers' right to do so and to participate in collective bargaining.
Biden, who has described himself as the most pro-union president in history, said automakers have made some significant offers to workers, “but I believe they should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts for the UAW.”
"The bottom line is that auto workers helped create America's middle class," Biden said. "They deserve a contract that sustains them and the middle class."
Biden said he was dispatching two of his top aides – acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior adviser Gene Sperling – to Detroit to help the parties reach an agreement. He called on both sides to return to the negotiating table and stay as long as needed.
Auto workers stopped making cars and went on strike when their contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Thursday. The strike targeted specific plants of Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Fiat brands.
The strike is the first time in the union’s 88-year history that it walked out on all three companies simultaneously.
Ten states would take the brunt of any economic hit in a protracted strike against the Big Three automakers. The strike's impact could reach beyond Michigan and as far as Texas and New York, according to a report by Michigan economists.
Biden's warning comes as a new USA TODAY and the Suffolk University Sawyer Business School poll released this week showed Americans' lingering concerns about rising costs, suggesting he’s losing his argument on the economy.
The auto workers' union is asking for a 40% wage increase over the life of the contract, restoring a cost-of-living allowance adjustment to counteract inflation, defined benefit pensions for all workers, a reduced work week and more paid time off, increased benefits for retirees and limiting the use of temporary workers.
More:UAW strike 2023 against Detroit automakers: Live updates, news from the picket sites
Explainer:With UAW strike looming, contract negotiations may lead to costlier EVs. Here's why
Why is UAW going on strike?
The auto workers' union launched the historic strike late Thursday by targeting all three Detroit automakers at once after contract negotiations failed to land a new deal. UAW members walked off the job at three assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri.
The first three facilities targeted are Ford Michigan Assembly Plant (Final Assembly and Paint only) in Wayne, Michigan, Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio, and General Motors Wentzville Assembly in Missouri.
Union leaders have said they will select new target plants for strikes in various waves if negotiations continue to fail to land new agreements with the auto companies. The strategy is designed to keep the automakers off-guard and leverage the union's position to secure a better contract than the offers the Detroit automakers have made so far.
Is help on the way?Biden considering emergency aid to suppliers who could be hit hard by UAW strike
Contributing: Jamie L. LaReau, Susan Tompor
veryGood! (442)
Related
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- 15-year-old shot in neck, 5 others hurt in shooting on Chicago's Northwest Side
- Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto exits start vs. Royals with triceps tightness
- Mega Millions winning numbers for June 14 drawing: Jackpot climbs to $61 million
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- Who won Tony Awards for 2024: Full list of winners and nominees
- Extreme heat is getting worse. Can we learn to live with it? | The Excerpt
- Native American boarding school records reveal hidden truths
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Singer Cody Simpson fails to make Australian Olympic swimming team
Ranking
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- 2024 Tony Awards: See Every Red Carpet Fashion Moment
- Home run robbery in ninth caps Texas A&M win vs. Florida in College World Series opener
- Surgeon general calls on Congress to require social media warning labels, like those on cigarettes
- Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
- 3 men set for pleas, sentencings in prison killing of Boston gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger
- Thieves pilfer Los Angeles' iconic 6th Street Bridge for metal, leaving the landmark in the dark
- An emotional win for theaters, Hollywood: ‘Inside Out 2’ scores massive $155 million opening
Recommendation
Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
Select list of winners at the 2024 Tony Awards
England defeats Serbia in its Euro 2024 opener on Jude Bellingham goal
Toyota recalls 13,000 cars over camera defect that increases risk of hitting pedestrians
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
Three Colorado women murdered and the search for a serial killer named Hannibal
Indiana GOP chair to step down following tumultuous party convention
Social Security is constantly getting tweaked. Here's what could be changing next.