Dave Jamieson
Thu, October 10, 2024
The Detroit News reported earlier this week that several people wearing “Auto Workers for Trump” T-shirts at a Donald Trump campaign event in Michigan were not actually auto workers.
The report didn’t seem to surprise Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union.
“It’s pathetic. Everything he does is a con,” Fain said Thursday, referencing Trump.
The UAW, which is based in the crucial swing state of Michigan, has endorsed Harris, and its leader Fain has become one of Trump’s most fiery critics. Fain was speaking on a call hosted by the Kamala Harris campaign ahead of Trump’s scheduled address to the Detroit Economic Club.
“There is a stark contrast between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris,” he said. “Kamala Harris has stood with labor. She’s walked the walk. Donald Trump serves himself. He’s always served himself.
It’s pathetic. Everything he does is a con. Shawn Fain on Donald Trump
Most major unions have lined up behind Harris and plan to help the Democratic nominee’s get-out-the-vote efforts ahead of Election Day. However, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced last month that it would not make an endorsement, citing membership polls showing more support for Trump among its rank and file.
Like the Teamsters, the UAW makes its endorsement (or non-endorsement) through a vote by its executive board, rather than a vote by its membership.
Asked about the Teamsters’ decision to stay out of the race, Fain said he believed he had “a responsibility as a leader” to take a stand against Trump, noting the former president’s patently anti-union record while in office. He didn’t deny a significant share of the union’s members would support Trump.
Quoting legendary UAW leader Walter Reuther, Fain said there was a correlation between the “ballot box” and the “bread box,” and argued that gains unions and workers have made could be lost if Trump wins the presidency.
“What we bargain at the bargaining table can be taken away,” he said, noting that anti-union officials appointed by Trump made it more difficult for workers to organize.
Shawn Fain, shown here at the UAW's convention in January, has become a prominent Trump critic. via Associated Press
Fain accused Trump of trying to “divide” the union during its historic strike against the Big Three automakers last year. He also took a shot at the Republican nominee for praising his supporter Elon Musk as the type of boss who would fire striking workers, which is generally illegal.
The latter was a reference to a chat Trump had with the X owner on the social media platform in August. The UAW filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the remarks, alleging Trump and Musk were trying to intimidate workers.
“He sits there and applauds Elon Musk for trying to fire striking workers, and they laugh about that,” Fain said. “And that’s why I said Donald Trump is a scab.”
The “Auto Workers for Trump” group is real, founded by a retired auto worker named Brian Pannebecker. But that doesn’t mean all rallygoers wearing the shirts have actually worked in an auto factory.
The Detroit News reported there were “more than a dozen” people wearing the T-shirts at an event headlined by Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, in Detroit on Tuesday. But six of them told the outlet they aren’t auto workers themselves. Two said Pannebecker had given them the shirts.
During the UAW work stoppage last year, many media outlets reported that Trump would be addressing striking workers in Michigan. In reality, he was giving a speech at a small, non-union auto parts manufacturer.
They wore 'Auto Workers for Trump' shirts at a JD Vance rally. But they're not actually auto workers
Owen Bellwood / Jalopnik
Thu, October 10, 2024
Owen Bellwood / Jalopnik
Thu, October 10, 2024
NON UNION MADE TRUMP T SHIRTS
Auto Workers For Trump was founded in response to the UAW’s endorsement of the Harris campaign - Photo: JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP (Getty Images)
Auto Workers For Trump was founded in response to the UAW’s endorsement of the Harris campaign - Photo: JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP (Getty Images)
Political rallies bring out all kinds of catchy slogans from people who are there to support their heroes. Now, a group of people sporting “Auto Workers For Trump” tops at a JD Vance rally this week in Detroit have been found to have very little in common with the message they’re supporting.
In Detroit this week, vice presidential hopeful JD Vance hosted a rally to drum up support for Donald Trump in his reelection campaign. During the sparsley attended rally, a group of supporters was spotted sporting t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Auto Workers For Trump,” which might lead you to think that the people wearing the tops hold some kind of humble jobs in the auto industry.
It appears that at least around half of the people wearing the tops don’t work in the auto industry at all, reports the Detroit News:
Vance, the running mate of former President Donald Trump and a U.S. senator from Ohio, spoke and took questions for about an hour in Detroit’s Eastern Market Shed 3. Several hundred people attended the event, including more than a dozen who were wearing “auto workers for Trump” shirts. However, six of the people in the shirts told The Detroit News on Tuesday they were not actually auto workers.
The shirts were distributed by the Auto Workers For Trump 2024 group, reports Newsweek. The organization was reportedly set up following the United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s endorsement of Kamala Harris.
The group was formed by retired auto worker Brian Pannebecker, who distributed the shirts to spectators and asked members of the auto industry to attend the rally alongside him wearing one of the shirts, as Newsweek reports:
Pannebecker told Newsweek Tuesday evening that he had asked from 30 to 40 autoworkers, both active and retired, if they would like to attend the event to show support for the Republicans’ “pro-American worker policies.”
“A couple of the active auto workers said they had to work and couldn’t get off, and asked if their spouse could have a seat in their place,” he said in a written statement.
“Of course, I said yes, because these families deserve the opportunity to show their support for the candidates who understand what needs to be done to save Detroit’s automotive industry and our economy.”
While “30 to 40” auto workers were approached to wear the tops, a much smaller number of them actually showed up in them. However, their presence was enough to lead Vance to call himself an “ally” of the auto industry while on stage, adding that, should Trump win in November, the administration will throw its support behind the American auto industry.
Analysts aren’t so sure of those promises, however, with some warning that Trump’s policies could pave the way for China to become a global leader in EVs and leave America in the dust.
A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik.
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| UNION MADE UNION T-SHIRT |
UAW's Fain slams Trump, says lack of commitment to EVs would cost US jobs
Andrea Shalal
Thu, October 10, 2024
WASHINGTON — UAW President Shawn Fain on Thursday said hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs are at stake if former President Donald Trump wins the Nov. 5 election and moves to repeal investments in electric vehicles.
Democrats have seized on Trump's running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, declining to commit to maintaining a $500 million investment to help GM convert an existing Cadillac plant into an electric vehicle facility.
Fain, who has endorsed the Democratic nominee in the race, Vice President Kamala Harris, said removing the funds would put at risk some 650 jobs in Lansing and have a greater impact across the United States.
"It's a lot bigger than just the Lansing Grand River investment. It's factories all over the United States, and it's supply chain factories all over the United States that are being put in place now. So you're talking hundreds of thousands of jobs that Donald Trump is just writing off," Fain told reporters ahead of Trump's visit to Detroit later on Thursday.
Vance had drawn fire from the UAW last week for giving noncommittal answers on questions about the money allocated to GM for the electric vehicle plant.
Vance: $500 million is 'table scraps'
Asked about it again on Tuesday, Vance said neither he nor Trump had ever said they would take "any money that's going to Michigan autoworkers out of the state of Michigan" and said the Biden administration's push for EV investments threatened some 117,000 autoworker jobs.
"What we've said is that Kamala Harris is offering table scraps — $500 million — when you have an EV mandate that's going to cost 117,000 autoworker jobs," Vance said.
Harris told a rally in Michigan last week she had no plans to institute an all-EV mandate, but wanted consumers to have a choice and companies to be able to compete with China.
Some autoworkers worry that switching to EVs could reduce the number of jobs in the industry, a claim Harris and her advisers reject, saying EV parts will also be made in the U.S.
Fain doubts autoworker support for Trump
Fain underscored the UAW's endorsement of Harris, saying the Biden administration had imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs to ensure U.S. automakers had space to expand in that sector.
He rejected the idea that a large number of autoworkers supported Trump, saying internal polls showed that 65% of union members had consistently voted for Democratic candidates.
"It's a very clear picture for us on who stands with working-class people," he said, adding that Harris had joined a picket line in 2019 when GM workers were on strike and Trump was in office but remained silent on the labor action.
Trump told Reuters in August that if elected he would consider ending a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle purchases included in the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, saying tax credits and incentives were "not generally a very good thing."
If elected, Trump could take steps to reverse Treasury Department rules that have made it easier for automakers to take advantage of the $7,500 credit or could ask Congress to repeal it entirely.
While president, Trump sought to repeal the EV tax credit which was later expanded by President Joe Biden in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: UAW's Fain slams Trump in argument over EV investments
UAW chief slams Trump over threat to repeal EV investments
Andrea Shalal
Updated Thu, October 10, 2024
FILE PHOTO: EVGO Fast electric vehicle chargers in California
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on Thursday said hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs were at stake if Republican former President Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election and made good on his threat to repeal investments in electric vehicles.
Democrats have seized on Trump's running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, declining to commit to maintaining a $500 million investment to help GM convert an existing Cadillac plant into an electric vehicle facility.
Fain, who has endorsed the Democratic nominee in the race, Vice President Kamala Harris, said removing the funds would put at risk some 650 jobs in Lansing, Michigan, and have a greater impact across the United States.
"It's a lot bigger than just the Lansing Grand River investment. It's factories all over the United States, and it's supply chain factories all over the United States that are being put in place now. So you're talking hundreds of thousands of jobs that Donald Trump is just writing off," Fain told reporters ahead of Trump's visit to Detroit later on Thursday.
Vance had drawn fire from the UAW last week for giving noncommittal answers on questions about the money allocated to GM for the electric vehicle plant.
Asked about it again on Tuesday, Vance said neither he nor Trump had ever said they would take "any money that's going to Michigan auto workers out of the state of Michigan" and said the Biden administration's push for EV investments threatened some 117,000 autoworker jobs.
"What we've said is that Kamala Harris is offering table scraps - $500 million - when you have an EV mandate that's going to cost 117,000 auto worker jobs," Vance said, adding that EVs were selling slower than gas-powered cars.
Harris told a rally in Michigan last week she had no plans to institute an all-EV mandate, but wanted consumers to have a choice and companies to be able to compete with China.
Some autoworkers worry that switching to EVs could reduce the number of jobs in the auto industry, a claim Harris and her advisers reject, saying EV parts will also be made in the U.S.
Fain underscored the UAW's endorsement of Harris, saying the Biden administration had imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs to ensure U.S. automakers had space to expand in that sector.
He rejected the idea that a large number of autoworkers supported Trump, saying internal polls showed that 65% of union members had consistently voted for Democratic candidates.
"It's a very clear picture for us on who stands with working class people," he said, adding that Harris had joined a picket line in 2019 when GM workers were on strike and Trump was in office but remained silent on the labor action.
Trump told Reuters in August that if elected he would consider ending a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle purchases included in the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, saying tax credits and incentives were "not generally a very good thing."If elected, Trump could take steps to reverse Treasury Department rules that have made it easier for automakers to take advantage of the $7,500 credit or could ask the U.S. Congress to repeal it entirely.
While president, Trump sought to repeal the EV tax credit which was later expanded by President Joe Biden in 2022.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Susan Heavey and Deepa Babington)
Trump courts auto workers with car loan tax break, China crackdown
Nora Eckert and David Shepardson
Updated Thu, October 10, 2024
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump makes an appearance at the Detroit Economic Club
By Nora Eckert and David Shepardson
DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday proposed making interest on car loans tax-deductible and preventing Chinese automakers from selling vehicles in the United States, in a push to appeal to autoworkers in the final weeks of election campaigning.
In a speech to the Detroit Economic Club that ran for about two hours, Trump criticized electric vehicles, the United Auto Workers union that represents auto workers, and even the city of Detroit where he was speaking.
Polls show Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are locked in a tight race ahead of the Nov. 5 election, with the outcome expected to be decided by slim margins in battleground states like Michigan, of which Detroit is the largest city.
He alluded to the city's economic struggles in his speech while taking a jab at Harris.
"The whole country is going to be like, you want to know the truth, it'll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if [Harris] is your president," Trump said.
The plan on car loans - which would treat interest paid on vehicle loans like home mortgages on federal tax returns - is the latest in a long string of potential tax cuts the former U.S. president has floated during the final weeks of his campaign against Harris.
The speech focused on the U.S. auto industry, which is headquartered in Detroit. Trump said he would impose new tariffs to prevent Chinese automakers from building cars in Mexico and exporting them to the United States.
Trump, who on Sunday said he would slap tariffs as high as 200%, suggested he could impose even higher tariffs on vehicles.
"I will impose whatever tariffs are required - 100%, 200% 1,000%," Trump said. Mexico exported just over 2.5 million vehicles to the United States last year.
He also said he will formally notify Mexico and Canada of his intent to renegotiate a North American free trade deal to address concerns about Chinese vehicles. Harris, the U.S. vice president, has also said she plans to invoke the renegotiation provision if elected.
Critics say the free trade deal approved during Trump's term allowed the Detroit Three automakers to continue to produce hundreds of thousands of vehicles in Mexico and export them to U.S. buyers.
STIMULATING PRODUCTION
Congress in 1986 repealed the federal deduction for interest paid on auto and other consumer loans as part of a tax reform bill. In September, buyers paid an average interest rate of 7.1% on new cars and 11.2% on used cars, according to car research company Edmunds.
Trump said the tax cut "will stimulate massive domestic auto production, and make car ownership dramatically more affordable for millions and millions of working American families."
If elected, Trump will need congressional support to pass changes of tax laws.
President Joe Biden last month proposed prohibiting key Chinese software and hardware in vehicles with internet connectivity on American roads due to national security concerns, a move that would effectively bar Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market. Biden separately announced new 100% tariffs on all Chinese EVs effective Sept. 27 -- on top of a 25% import tariff on all Chinese vehicles that Trump imposed.
Trump also said he will close loopholes around Chinese cars being allowed into the U.S.
Biden last month also proposed barring Chinese automakers from testing autonomous vehicles on U.S. roads.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Chris Sanders, Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)
Donald Trump Goes to Detroit and Insults the Entire City
Mini Racker
Thu, October 10, 2024
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
Donald Trump on Thursday addressed business leaders in Detroit, where he insulted their city and big companies.
“You want to know the truth?” Trump told members of the Detroit Economic Club as he painted a picture of what his opponent would do to America. “It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands.”
Audience members clapped when Trump said he wouldn’t allow Kamala Harris to make the rest of the country mirror their hometown, suggesting that, at least among his fans, Trump’s comments weren’t too off base.
The former president has insulted Democratic-leaning urban areas before, especially by claiming they are hotspots of voter fraud. But three weeks before the election in a crucial swing state, the derision of the city was shocking.
Michigan Democrats hit back. Hard.
“I represent Detroit in Congress,” Rep. Shri Thanedar posted on X. “Detroit is a city with a booming economy, diverse culture, and some of the best people in America. Donald Trump: keep Detroit and our people out of your mouth. We will elect Kamala Harris.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also attacked Trump's election-eve insult against Michigan's Motor City.
Trump and Harris are locked in a razor-thin race in the state, with Harris just slightly ahead in the polls. The Great Lakes is part of the “blue wall,” which will be key to winning the presidency. The former president won the state by a tiny margin in 2016, but lost in 2020.
On Thursday, Trump sought to change that narrative by positioning himself as Detroit’s savior—if it would only vote for him. In particularly brutal language, he emphasized that he would be the one to ensure the U.S. makes better trade deals to rein in big, powerful companies “outside of our world.”
“We allowed them to come in and raid and rape our country,” Trump said, mockingly adding, “Oh, he used the word rape.’ That’s right, I used the word rape.”
For emphasis he repeated, “They RAPED our country.”
The Daily Beast.
Mini Racker
Thu, October 10, 2024
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
Donald Trump on Thursday addressed business leaders in Detroit, where he insulted their city and big companies.
“You want to know the truth?” Trump told members of the Detroit Economic Club as he painted a picture of what his opponent would do to America. “It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands.”
Audience members clapped when Trump said he wouldn’t allow Kamala Harris to make the rest of the country mirror their hometown, suggesting that, at least among his fans, Trump’s comments weren’t too off base.
The former president has insulted Democratic-leaning urban areas before, especially by claiming they are hotspots of voter fraud. But three weeks before the election in a crucial swing state, the derision of the city was shocking.
Michigan Democrats hit back. Hard.
“I represent Detroit in Congress,” Rep. Shri Thanedar posted on X. “Detroit is a city with a booming economy, diverse culture, and some of the best people in America. Donald Trump: keep Detroit and our people out of your mouth. We will elect Kamala Harris.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also attacked Trump's election-eve insult against Michigan's Motor City.
Trump and Harris are locked in a razor-thin race in the state, with Harris just slightly ahead in the polls. The Great Lakes is part of the “blue wall,” which will be key to winning the presidency. The former president won the state by a tiny margin in 2016, but lost in 2020.
On Thursday, Trump sought to change that narrative by positioning himself as Detroit’s savior—if it would only vote for him. In particularly brutal language, he emphasized that he would be the one to ensure the U.S. makes better trade deals to rein in big, powerful companies “outside of our world.”
“We allowed them to come in and raid and rape our country,” Trump said, mockingly adding, “Oh, he used the word rape.’ That’s right, I used the word rape.”
For emphasis he repeated, “They RAPED our country.”
The Daily Beast.
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