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PA

Biden becomes first US president to walk striking workers' picket line

Historians say they cannot recall a previous instance when a sitting US president has joined an ongoing strike.

US PRESIDENT JOE Biden has joined the United Auto Workers on the 12th day of their strike against major car makers, a demonstration of support apparently unparalleled in American history.

Biden’s embrace of the union began as soon as he arrived in Michigan on Air Force One.

UAW president Shawn Fain was the first to greet Biden on the tarmac and he joined him in the presidential limousine for a ride to the picket line.

They soon arrived at a General Motors parts distribution warehouse located in the suburbs west of Detroit, one of the facilities that has been targeted in the strike.

“No deal, no wheels,” workers chanted. “No pay, no parts.”

Labour historians say they cannot recall an instance when a sitting president has joined an ongoing strike, even during the tenures of the more ardent pro-union presidents such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Theodore Roosevelt invited labour leaders alongside mine operators to the White House amid a historic coal strike in 1902, a decision that was seen at the time as a rare embrace of unions as Roosevelt tried to resolve the dispute.

Biden will be arriving one day before former president Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, goes to Detroit to hold his own event in an attempt to woo car workers – even though union leaders say he is no ally.

Lawmakers often appear at strikes to show solidarity with unions and Biden joined picket lines with casino workers in Las Vegas and auto workers in Kansas City while seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Sitting presidents, though, have to balance the rights of workers with disruptions to the economy, supply chains and other facets of everyday life, have long wanted to stay out of the strike fray, until Biden.

“This is absolutely unprecedented. No president has ever walked a picket line before,” said Erik Loomis, a professor at the University of Rhode Island and an expert on US labour history.

Presidents historically “avoided direct participation in strikes. They saw themselves more as mediators. They did not see it as their place to directly intervene in a strike or in labor action”.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Michigan that “Biden is fighting to ensure that the cars of the future will be built in America by unionised American workers in good-paying jobs, instead of being built in China”.

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    Mute Ollie Fitzpatrick
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    Sep 27th 2023, 7:20 AM

    Fair play to him!!

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    Mute David
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    Sep 27th 2023, 12:45 PM

    @Ollie Fitzpatrick: The people of Ohio…Palestine specifically, look at you in disgust

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    Mute Adrian
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:03 AM

    Probably forget where he was.

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    Mute lWOk0fWf
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:31 AM

    @Adrian: and you are?

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    Mute Temp Stuff
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:19 AM

    @Adrian: cheap shot, forever young you eh

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    Mute mainmsam
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:49 AM

    @Temp Stuff: he’s not the President

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:06 AM

    Smart move by Biden, especially as Trump also visited the strike but not to meet with UAW president Shawn Fain.

    Worth noting that Shawn Fain see’s Trump as part of the billionaire class that are part of the problem, he’s not wrong on that.

    Trump claims to have the workers back, but he isn’t even good to his own workers and doesn’t pay his bills so he certainly doesn’t care about the auto workers.

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    Mute Justin Mcnulty
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    Sep 27th 2023, 12:39 PM

    @Graham Light: will they? Could you provide a source for that

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    Mute David
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    Sep 27th 2023, 12:42 PM

    @Martin Bishop: democracy is for sheep and shepherds.

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    Mute David
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    Sep 27th 2023, 1:06 PM

    @Martin Bishop: this is why democracy is a failure, people like you , with a vote, promoting political stunts for votes.

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    Mute Cowboy Paddy
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    Sep 27th 2023, 5:14 PM

    @Graham Light:
    Biden has spent his administration reversing stuff Trump did to help he elite billionaire class…
    Lets get this Trump is a Billionaire (or at least calls himself one), he goes to club with other high net worth people in his club and tells them, that he made them richer thru tax cuts..

    To not acknowledge this is to be dishonest or worse…

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    Mute Feargal De Cantuin
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    Sep 27th 2023, 7:57 AM

    Well this should set a precedent. Someone remembers that workers have votes and what would the world look like if business and managements realised that people power sides with actual people and families.

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    Mute Dave Grant
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:20 AM

    Poor lad, he has absolutely no clue where he is and what he’s doing, such a shame they take a auld lad out of care for this charade. Last year he broke the railway workers strike, must be an election on the way?

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    Mute Jason Memail
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:58 AM

    @Dave Grant: A dothery old man who hasn’t a clue, or the head of a criminal organisation raking in millions? You lot should really just pick one and stick to it.

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    Mute Annette
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:28 AM

    @Jason Memail: MAGA conspiracies.

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    Mute Michael Ryan
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:07 AM

    Pretending he cares to get more votes

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    Mute Art Vandelay
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:18 AM

    @Michael Ryan: Bashing Joe Biden to get more likes

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    Mute David
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:00 AM

    @Art Vandelay: where was he when the people of Ohio were being poisoned from the train derailment. Think of everything before you speak/type.

    On another note, when did The Journal revise it’s warning on toxicity posts, surely it should read as “likely to be perceived as toxic” as opposed to “unlikely to be perceived as toxic?”, maybe it’s me but I find the latter somewhat confusing.

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    Mute Art Vandelay
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    Sep 27th 2023, 2:21 PM

    @David: I would’ve thought that it wasn’t that hard to confuse you & you’ve just proved me right

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    Mute will harte
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    Sep 27th 2023, 6:58 PM

    @David: Obama passed legislation in his last year to update all brakes on freight trains, one of Trump’s fist acts was to undo this act, that train crashed due to dodgey brakes

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    Mute mainmsam
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:49 PM

    @will harte: is that why Biden promised to go to Ohio to show his support but hasn’t bother to

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    Mute Ross O'
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:26 AM

    Sleep walking haha amirite

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    Mute lWOk0fWf
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:33 AM

    @Ross O’: no you’re completely wrong.
    He’s a hugely intelligent man but numpties rehash that ‘sleepy joe’ nonsense.
    Have you ever had an original thought?

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    Mute mainmsam
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:02 AM

    @lWOk0fWf: that lied where he came in his college class, says he topped his class. Never need the top. A man who plagiarized Kinnocks speech & had to withdraw from an election campaign over it. But no yeah, he’s hugely intelligent

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    Mute Andrew English
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:17 AM

    @lWOk0fWf: he was an intelligent man. His mind is elsewhere. Even the most ardent supporter cannot shy away from the fact that the man is regressing as each day goes by.

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    Mute Nestor
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    Sep 27th 2023, 12:31 PM

    @lWOk0fWf:

    According to Biden’s Wikipedia entry:

    “In 1968, Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law, ranked 76th in his class of 85, after failing a course due to an acknowledged “mistake” when he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school”

    Finishing almost last in his class does not suggest “a hugely intelligent man”!

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    Mute Ross O'
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    Sep 27th 2023, 5:28 PM

    @lWOk0fWf: yeah I’m going to need some evidence for your claims there.

    That the sleep walking one was snappy enough tbh

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    Mute Fran Riley
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:09 AM

    I remember a ff TD joining debenhams picket line he then voted against giving them getting their entitlement any photo opportunity will do

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    Mute David
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:50 AM

    @Fran Riley: name him

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    Mute Tommy Haze
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:37 AM

    Get that Commie outta the White House.

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    Mute Jason Memail
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:55 AM

    @Tommy Haze: The 80s called, and they want their buzzwords back.

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    Mute Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:10 AM

    He’s a first of many: First to bring the world to an avoidable calamity. First to incite and force-break an international agreement where war was threatening, Minsk 2. First to make millions from Ukraine and then use it to kick its neighbour and offer Nato membership knowing it was a non-runner. First to come to a Marian Shrine and cry like a baby with his salacious son using his da for profiteering. The first to spoof the Irish with blarney and pulled it off.
    Last year over 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. The year before was the same, the year before that too. In his 4 years. His presidency will have seen the equivalent of Cork, Limerick and Galway city and suburbs wiped off the map. And yet he still sends unreceipted billions to his former cash cow. First? Yea, right.

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    Mute David O Brien
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:25 AM

    @Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh: That’s a lot of firsts

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    Mute Annette
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:38 AM

    @Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh: Trump friends Russia, North Korea and China. Yes he will be Putins lapdog.

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    Mute David
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:42 AM

    Hawaii and Ohio take note!

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    Mute sakk sa
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    Sep 27th 2023, 7:58 AM

    To win next election. Not bad trick sleepy head

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    Mute Dominic Leleu
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:20 AM

    PR Stunt.

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    Mute mainmsam
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:54 AM

    Promised he would visit Ohio, still hasn’t after all this time. Man of the people my a$$

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    Mute Paul whitehead
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:26 AM

    Salute our Commander and Chief. Four more years, assuming the old pegs hold out.

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    Mute Jason Memail
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    Sep 27th 2023, 8:54 AM

    @Paul whitehead: It’s commander in chief, not and.

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:22 AM

    If ever there was an example of how the world has changed or you looking for a sign that it’s big corporations actually run America and the world then this is clue – there used to be a time when the corporate leadership had to go to the President and the white house was the king power broker – these days even the white house have to picket with a mega phone begging for scraps from the decision makers in large corporations ….The decline of America continues

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    Mute brendan C5
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    Sep 27th 2023, 9:52 AM

    There must be an election coming.

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    Mute Pat The Rat
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:52 AM

    Trump 24

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    Mute Art Vandelay
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    Sep 27th 2023, 2:22 PM

    @Pat The Rat: Appropriate moniker. Only rodents support that excuse for a human

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    Mute marklars81
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    Sep 27th 2023, 12:08 PM

    he thought it was a queue for ice cream.

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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Sep 27th 2023, 10:13 AM

    Intelligent honest move , the consequences of trickle down economy has to many victims

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    Mute Timo
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    Sep 27th 2023, 7:49 PM

    And then he’s heading off to California to promote electric cars who pushes the UAW out of work. Open yer eyes

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    Mute will harte
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    Sep 28th 2023, 11:11 AM

    @Timo: all of these cars companies make electric versions of their cars already, they are on strike because they haven’t had a pay raise since the auto bailout in 2009 while the CEO has had a 40% pay raise in the last 5 years, and are making 350 times the average worker

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    Mute Timo
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    Sep 27th 2023, 7:51 PM

    Commander and thief

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