WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Friday that workers should be fairly compensated as auto companies make record profits, after the United Auto Workers union began a strike against General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis.
“The companies have made some significant offers,” Biden said in a speech at the White House. “But I believe they should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts for the UAW.”
Biden said he is dispatching acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior advisor Gene Sperling to Detroit to help mediate negotiations. The pair have been involved with the talks up to now, Biden said.
“Auto companies have seen record profits including the last few years because of the extraordinary skill and sacrifices of the UAW workers,” Biden said. “Those record profits have not been shared fairly, in my view, with the workers.”
UAW President Shawn Fain pushed back against the president in a statement released after the remarks.
“We agree with Joe Biden when he says ‘record profits mean record contracts,’” Fain said. “We don’t agree when he says negotiations have broken down.”
Nearly 13,000 autoworkers went on strike after contract talks ended Thursday night without an agreement.
Workers are striking at GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio. For Ford, Fain said only workers in the paint and final assembly areas will be on strike.
In an interview with NBC News’ Kristen Welker set to air Sunday on “Meet the Press,” former President Donald Trump was critical of Fain and what’s ahead for autoworkers, saying that in the near future “those jobs are all going to be gone.”
“Under Trump, autoworkers shuttered their doors and sent American jobs overseas,” Ammar Moussa, spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement…
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