The powerful United Auto Workers (UAW) formally endorsed Joe Biden’s re-election campaign on Wednesday at the union’s national community action program conference in Washington DC.
Both the US president and rival Donald Trump have courted the union and supported its successful strike action against the US’s big three automakers last year. Biden became the first president to walk a picket line in support of the union.
“Joe Biden bet on the American worker while Donald Trump blamed the American worker,” UAW president, Shawn Fain told the conference. “If our endorsement must be earned, Joe Biden has earned it.
“Donald Trump is a scab. Donald Trump is a billionaire and that’s who he represents,” Fain said. “This election is about who will stand up with us and who will stand in our way.”
I don’t know the specifics of the UAW but it is possible that a large amount of their member base are actually Trump supporters.
It seems weird but there are conservative union members.
So the UAW is in an awkward position of having to go through the motions of a considered deliberation for who to endorse so as to not get those members offside.
At the end of the day a union represents its members interests, even if those interests are self sabotaging, just like a democracy.