Ahead of Trump visit, UAW’s Fain tells workers: ‘We can’t keep electing billionaires’ – By Todd Spangler (Detroit Free Press) / Sept 19, 2023
UAW President Shawn Fain on Tuesday morning said workers should reject former President Donald Trump’s overtures to them ahead of next year’s election as Trump plans a visit to Detroit next week amid the union’s strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis for better wages and benefits and more job protection.
“Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” Fain said in a statement. “We can’t keep electing billionaires and millionaires that don’t have any understanding what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to get by and expecting them to solve the problems of the working class.”
Fain’s statement came after a source close to the Trump campaign confirmed for the Free Press on Monday that Trump will visit Detroit next Wednesday, Sept. 27, and speak to some 500 workers, including current and former union members, instead of participating in that night’s second Republican debate in California. Additional details of the event have not been released.
Trump who leads in the polls for the GOP nomination, skipped the first debate last month as well. He has been critical of UAW leaders in the strike, arguing that rank-and-file members should reject any deal that allows for continued transition in the industry toward making more electric vehicles or EVs.
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