United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain announced his endorsement of President Joe Biden on Wednesday against former President Donald Trump, though he admitted that “working-class people are hurting.”
At a conference in Washington, DC, Fain praised Biden for being by the union’s “side every step of the way” and blasted Trump for not caring “about the American worker.”
“Here is what Joe Biden did during our stand-up strike,” Fain said, referring to Biden’s short, 12-minute speech to striking auto workers in 2023. “… he joined us in solidarity on the picket line for the first time in our nation’s history.”
SOLIDARITY? Joe Biden Addresses Striking UAW Workers
C-SPANThe UAW strike, though, was spurred by record inflation under Biden and the White House’s agenda to mandate electric vehicle (EV) production from automakers — both of which have the prospect of cutting auto wages and, ultimately, outsourcing auto jobs.
While endorsing Biden, Fain admitted that “working-class people are hurting today.”
“For decades, we’ve been ignored at best and trampled on at work. But we are the vast majority of society,” Fain said. “We have the numbers, and we have the votes. When we stand united, we put fear in the hearts of the billionaire class.”
FLASHBACK — UAW President: Companies Are Exploiting Biden EV Push to Have “Race to the Bottom” on Wages
Meanwhile, Trump has blasted Biden’s record of supporting free trade deals and opposing his plans to impose ten percent tariffs across the board on all foreign imports.
“Joe Biden claims to be the most pro-union president in history. Nonsense,” Trump said in late 2023 to auto workers in Michigan:
His entire career has been an act of economic treason and union destruction. He’s destroyed unions, shipping millions of American jobs overseas while personally taking money from foreign nations, hand over fist. Look at the money he got from China. [Emphasis added]
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Drake Enterprises, an automotive parts manufacturer, on September 27, 2023, in Clinton Township, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Trump has also warned that Biden’s EV mandates could potentially wipe out millions of auto jobs and jobs in supporting industries because the cars do not require nearly as much labor.
Likewise, Biden’s top deputies have gone as far as to say they are not interested in decoupling from China even as the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has recommended the administration revoke China’s free trade status with the United States.
With Fain’s endorsement, Biden hopes to lock up union votes in critical swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — many of which voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 thanks to his economic nationalist policy positions.
Fain has been a controversial figure, even for Biden, on several issues. For example, Fain has compared Israel to Nazi Germany and demanded that Biden call for a ceasefire after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
