Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump used the spotlight of his party’s national convention on Thursday night to call for the firing of the leader of the United Auto Workers, escalating his ongoing feud with Shawn Fain, whose union labeled Trump a “scab.”
Trump made his comment after saying China was building auto plants across the southern border in Mexico and planning to sell Mexican-assembled vehicles into the United States.
“The United Auto Workers ought to be ashamed for allowing this to happen,” Trump then said. “And the leader of the United Auto Workers should be fired immediately. And every single auto worker, union and non-union, should be voting for Donald Trump.”
The “should be fired” comment wasn’t in excerpts of Trump’s prepared remarks provided by Trump’s campaign to reporters ahead of the speech.
The United Auto Workers, which is headquartered in Detroit, endorsed Democratic President Joe Biden’s reelection in January.
“This November, we can stand up and elect someone who wants to stand with us and support our cause. Or we can elect someone who will divide us and fight us every step of the way,” Fain said at the time. “That’s what this choice is about. The question is, who do we want in that office to give us the best shot of winning, of organizing, of negotiating strong contracts, of uniting the working class and winning our fair share once again, as our union has done so many times in our nation’s history.
“We need to know who’s going to sit in the most powerful seat in the world and help us win as a united working class.”
A spokesman for Fain didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s new remarks Thursday night. However, the UAW’s social media account labeled Trump “a scab and a billionaire” in a post on X.
“We know which side we’re on. Not his,” the union said.
Fain scored victories for his union last year in a round of high-stakes negotiations with Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV. In April, the UAW won a union organizing election at Volkswagen AG’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a breakthrough for the union into a foreign-owned assembly plant in the South.
A court-appointed monitor has been investigating allegations that Fain and his team demanded a subordinate take action to benefit his fiancée and her sister, according to a court filing.
Biden’s administration has supported policies to promote electric vehicles and to boost the manufacturing of batteries and other parts needed for them in the U.S. In April last year, the administration released the “strongest ever” tailpipe emissions standards that were expected to push automakers to accelerate the proportion of electric vehicles.
As he has repeatedly in the past, Trump vowed in Thursday’s night speech to end electric vehicle mandates if he’s elected in November. He contended the move would save “the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration.”
Biden’s supporters have contended that supporting the transition to electric vehicles is required to ensure the U.S. plays a dominant role in the future of the auto industry.
Also, on Thursday, Trump said he would impose tariffs of 100% and 200% on cars being built by Chinese companies in Mexico.
“They will be un-sellable in the United States,” he told the crowd.
So far, the number of jobs in vehicle and parts manufacturing in Michigan has held relatively steady during Biden’s term in the White House, decreasing by less than 1% to about 165,000 jobs in May, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
During Trump’s four-year term, the number of jobs in vehicle and parts manufacturing in Michigan fell by 5% to about 166,000, according to the bureau’s tracking.
(Detroit News Staff Writers Breana Noble and Robert Snell contributed.)
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