CHICAGO — United Auto Staff President Shawn Fain informed reporters Tuesday that working-class folks can see themselves within the new Democratic presidential ticket.
“There’s a really distinct distinction in these two folks and the place they stand with working-class folks,” Fain stated of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her working mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Fain, who spoke to the Democratic Nationwide Conference on its first night time on Monday and is usually essential of former President Donald Trump, known as him a “con artist.”
“He didn’t do a rattling factor for autoworkers when he was president,” Fain stated, noting that Trump appointed Peter Robb as basic counsel to the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, who Fain known as a “union buster.”
The assembly with the press adopted Fain’s remarks on the primary night time of the conference. The labor chief wore a jacket that he dramatically discarded to disclose a pink shirt that learn “Trump is a scab,” a time period that refers to individuals who cross the picket traces and don’t help placing employees.
Fain informed the group on the United Heart that Harris would help unions and working-class folks.
Unions, a historically robust Democratic constituency, have a significant presence on the conference.
“Kamala Harris stands shoulder to shoulder with employees after they’re on strike,” he stated Monday.
Polling amongst members
There are greater than 400,000 lively UAW members, and greater than 600 native unions, based on the group. The union additionally has almost 600,000 retired members.
The UAW has already endorsed Harris, as has one other main union, the American Federation of Lecturers, which represents about 1.8 million members.
Fain stated that UAW member polling has been comparatively constant at 56% help for Democrats and about 32% for Republicans, however he thinks there will likely be larger help for the Harris-Walz ticket come November.
“I imagine our members will likely be overwhelming behind Kamala Harris, as a result of she brings a brand new power to this,” he stated.
Fain added that Walz additionally has robust labor ties.
“Including Tim Walz as her working mate was a house run,” he stated. “He’s a trainer. He’s certainly one of us.”
In Walz’s first solo marketing campaign rally in Michigan, he informed a union-heavy crowd that he would prioritize worker-friendly insurance policies. He was a union member as a public college trainer in southern Minnesota earlier than he received a U.S. Home seat in 2006.
Fain stated if Harris and Walz win the White Home, and Democrats take management of each chambers in Congress, he hopes they’d try passage of worker-friendly insurance policies equivalent to H.R. 20, referred to as the PRO Act.
Nevertheless, Fain famous that even when there’s a risk of Democrats controlling each the White Home and Congress, there would should be 60 votes within the Senate to go the PRO Act, which helps employees’ rights to unionize.
“So far as the filibuster goes, I don’t know the place that goes proper now,” Fain stated of passage of the PRO Act. “I’d say we hope so.”
Having the help of unions will assist assist Harris in battleground states that boast excessive union membership equivalent to Pennsylvania and Nevada.
A brand new Emerson Faculty Polling/RealClearPennsylvania ballot discovered Trump with 49% help in Pennsylvania and Harris down by 1 share level.
“Pennsylvania doubtless voters in unions break for Harris by 15 factors, 57% to 42%, whereas these not in a union and with out union members within the family break for Trump, 50% to 48%,” Spencer Kimball, govt director of Emerson Faculty Polling, stated in a press release. “These with union members within the family break from Trump, 50% to 42%.”
Earlier than President Joe Biden suspended his reelection bid, he typically touted himself because the “most pro-union president.” Biden can be the primary president to have walked a picket line with members, when he did so final yr.
Fain stated that Harris additionally has robust union ties, noting that she walked the picket line with UAW in 2019.
“I imply, it wasn’t a publicity stunt, wasn’t for the hell of it,” he stated. “It’s as a result of that’s who she is.”
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