President Joe Biden earned the moniker “Union Joe” Tuesday in Michigan when he became the first sitting U.S. president to join the picket line to ask for higher pay and cost of living adjustments.
Biden received an enthusiastic welcome, then took the bull horn to address the striking workers.
“The fact of the matter is that you guys, the UAW, you saved the automobile industry in 2008 and before,” Biden said. “Made a lot of sacrifices, gave up a lot. And the companies were in trouble. Now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what, you should be doing incredibly well too. Stick with it. You deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits.”
UAW President Shawn Fain followed with a rousing speech as Biden stood among the crowd, his armed draped in solidarity around a union member.
“Today, the enemy isn’t some foreign country miles away, it is right here in our own area. It is corporate greed,” Fain said. “And the weapon we produce to fight that enemy is the liberators, the true liberators, and so, working class people, all of you working your butts off, on those lines, that deliver great product for our companies. That’s how we are going to defeat these people. That’s how we’re going to defeat corporate greed is by standing together.”
Biden took the bull horn one last time to echo
“You’ve heard me say many times: Wall Street didn’t build the country, the middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class,” Biden said to cheers. “Let’s keep going. You deserve what you earned and you earned more than what you get paid now.”
Watch the clips above via MSNBC.