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
    17106·
    1 year ago

    They are when it comes to wages.

    The federal minimum wage has been 7 bucks for fifteen years. Both sides have had a total majority with the presidency in that time frame.

    Literally the same.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        635·
        1 year ago

        I’m sorry guaranteeing healthcare for tens of millions of Americans with the 2 years they had government control wasn’t enough for you.

        … is it enough for you?

        • guacupado@lemmy.world
          2·
          1 year ago

          You’re moving the goalpost. Is it enough? No. But there’s one party where it happened and another party that literally did everything they could against it. Both parties are definitely not the same.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
            16·
            1 year ago

            I don’t think both parties are the same. I think they’re both bad and we’re fucked no matter who wins, but I can admit America will collapse slower under Democrats. I guess that’s preferable.

            I’m still voting for Cornell West. Nyaa nyaa~

    • paultimate14@lemmy.world
      524·
      1 year ago

      Just going to ignore how Biden has asked Congress to legislate a higher minimum wage and issues an executive order requiring a higher minimum wage for Federal contractors?

      The Democrats have only controlled Congress and the presidency at the same time for about 4 months in the past 4 decades, beginning in September 2009. Before then… idk it would have been before Reagan. When was the last time the minimum wage increased? 2009.

      “Both sides are the same” is a Republican talking point.

      • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
        261·
        1 year ago

        “Both sides are the same” is a Republican talking point.

        Can’t be said enough.

        Find someone telling you how both sides suck, and then look what it’s in reply to. It’s always, ALWAYS to deflect from Republican shortcomings or to deflect from positive news about Democrats.

        A-L-W-A-Y-S.

        • goldenlocks@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 year ago

          That’s not true. Biden took away railroad worker’s right to strike. He is only pretending to support the UAW strike.

    • youguys@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      383·
      1 year ago

      Democrats had it for 2 years in the past 20+ years…not the fuckin same. Republicans had it for 14 years. Anything Barack tried to do was shit on for 6 years of his presidency by Congress and his first two years he had he got a lot done, not to mention that he did actually raise the minimum wage for federal workers in 2014 by executive order because that’s the only way anything could get changed when the dumb ass party had control. https://money.cnn.com/2014/02/12/news/economy/obama-executive-order-minimum-wage/index.html

    • Fraylor@lemm.ee
      313·
      1 year ago

      Whew, good thing we are able to make such broad sweeping generalized comparisons based on a single issue.