DETROIT — The head of the United Auto Workers union says putting Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket increases the Democrats’ chance of winning Michigan and keeping the White House in November.
In an interview on Friday, Shawn Fain said former President Donald Trump is beholden to billionaires, knows nothing about the auto industry, and would reverse the labor movement if elected again.
“Trump has never supported working-class people. He has never supported unions,” Fain said. “But he sure as hell was trying to pander for our votes now.”
Fain has become a top nemesis of the Republican presidential nominee, who frequently rails against him at rallies and in speeches. Trump has called him an idiot, courting autoworkers’ votes by saying Fain is putting their jobs at risk by embracing a move to electric vehicles.
Although the UAW has members nationwide, many auto-making jobs are concentrated in the Great Lakes region and Michigan, a critical swing state that could decide the presidential race in November. Last week, the UAW endorsed Harris.
Trump and Harris realize that increasing their share of union votes gives them a much better chance of taking Michigan, where the last two presidential elections have been close, said Marick Masters, a business professor emeritus at Wayne State University who follows labor issues.
Trump won the state by just 11,000 votes in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton and then lost it four years later by nearly 154,000 votes to President Joe Biden.
Appealing to autoworkers helps to get votes from other union members, and union membership is high in the state at about 556,000, Masters said.
During his acceptance speech at the Republican convention last month, Trump called on union workers to fire Fain. He stated that Chinese auto companies are building factories in Mexico to ship vehicles to the U.S. without tariffs. Industry analysts say they have yet to be aware of any such plants under construction, at least not yet.
“You probably have to get rid of this fool, this stupid idiot representing the United Auto Workers,” Trump said at a July 20 rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Trump claimed he’ll get 95% of the UAW vote because Fain is pushing electric vehicles. “They’re going to be made in China,” he said.
He also pledged to bring the auto industry back from obliteration if elected.
But the industry is far from obliteration. According to the Labor Department, employment in the car and parts industry has grown 13.8% to just over 1 million people since Biden took office in January 2021. Detroit automakers General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have made billions in annual profits.
Fain dismissed the insults as typical Trump behavior. “All the man does is name-call and label people. He never has solutions,” Fain said. “That’s the problem in leadership. You need to find solutions.”
Fain said the transition from internal combustion vehicles to electricity-powered ones is inevitable and union members must be ready for it. During the transition, he said, auto companies are still making gasoline vehicles and keeping factory workers employed.
Trump, he said, did nothing for autoworkers when General Motors closed its small-car assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in 2019. Last month, Biden announced he would drop out of the race and support Harris. Fain said Biden helped GM build an electric vehicle battery plant in the Lordstown area, replacing some lost jobs.
Fain said he’s confident that Harris will remain an advocate for working people, citing her trip to walk picket lines with striking GM workers in 2019. “She was there with the president through many things we’ve been through,” he said. “She’s been there for labor.”
