President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, supporting their call for a 40% pay raise and saying they deserve a "lot more" than they are getting.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, supporting their call for a 40% pay raise and saying they deserve a “lot more” than they are getting.

Biden’s appearance, the first visit by a U.S. president to striking workers in modern history, comes a day before Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for president, will speak to auto workers in Michigan. The rare back-to-back events highlight the importance of union support in the 2024 presidential election, even though unions represent a tiny fraction of U.S. workers.

Democrat Biden traveled to a Belleville, Michigan, parts distribution center owned by General Motors (GM.N), and joined dozens of picketers outside. “Companies were in trouble, now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too,” Biden said through a bullhorn. “Stick with it.”

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
    1395·
    1 year ago

    Biden had a majority for two years and did jack shit on pay.

    Can’t really blame them for being angry.

    • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
      553·
      1 year ago

      You can’t pass a minimum wage increase with a 50-50 senate. It’s literally not possible.

        • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
          11·
          1 year ago

          You can’t do it without 60 votes in the senate. There’s nothing to try. Hence why the last time was ‘09 when democrats had a super majority in the senate. 0 republicans will vote for it, right now he’d need 9.

          Democrats have seen far more success raising the minimum wage at state and municipal levels. I would rather federal as well, but ultimately as long as people are getting a higher minimum wage, it’s the same effect.

        • TheFonz@lemmy.world
          51·
          1 year ago

          Do you guys not get any civil education on how bills get passed? Why are you commenting on political threads without a foundational understanding of how legislation works?

    • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
      111·
      1 year ago

      I guess that should have been the only focus. All I remember is that before he took office we couldn’t leave our houses and people were dying from COVID like crazy. It’s not Biden’s fault that wages haven’t increased with inflation since before I was born. Sure he could probably do more but I don’t see anyone else jumping up to help in any meaningful way either. No one will even primary him and his major opponent is just litigating things from 3 years ago to save his ego and or freedom. I don’t see anyone else stepping up from a position of power.