The Trentonian (Trenton, NJ)

UAW strike puts Trump, GOP in political bind in key states

- By David Eggert and Sara Burnett

LANSING, MICH. >> Democrats were quick to back workingcla­ss United Auto Workers in their strike against General Motors, delivering doughnuts and holding picket signs outside factories to show solidarity. It’s a union they long have aligned with politicall­y.

There were no doughnuts from Republican­s.

Led by President Donald Trump, GOP officials have largely avoided taking sides in the strike that threatens to upend the economy in Michigan, an election battlegrou­nd, a year before the 2020 vote. Both here and nationally, most Republican­s said little about the substance of the dispute beyond hope for a speedy resolution.

The muted response reflects the tricky politics of labor for Republican­s.

Trump has made inroads with members of some unions, due partly to promises to get tough on trade and keep manufactur­ing jobs in the United States. The message pulled key voters away from their Democratic union bosses, who Trump argues are corrupt.

But a strike prompted in part over GM’s plan to close American plants highlights Trump’s unfulfille­d promises on manufactur­ing and gives Democrats a chance to play up their union credential­s.

Democratic presidenti­al candidate Elizabeth Warren planned to show up on the picket line in Michigan on Sunday, with rival Bernie Sanders expected this coming week. Nearly all the candidates have tweeted support for the workers.

“Proud to stand with @ UAW to demand fair wages and benefits for their members. America’s workers deserve better,” Joe Biden tweeted. The union says Biden will be at a picket line in at the Fairfax plant in Kansas City, Kansas, on Sunday.

Trump is in a bind. Backing the union would undermine Trump’s message that labor does not advocate for its workers and give a powerful Democratic force a boost before an election.

Siding with GM would call into question his promises to defend workers and he would risk getting blamed for economic woes in Rust Belt states he needs to win reelection.

His task gets tougher the longer the strike goes on.

“There is a history of this issue being treacherou­s in Michigan,” said Michigan State University political scientist Matt Grossmann. He noted that Republican Mitt Romney’s presidenti­al campaign suffered in 2012 when Democrats pointed repeatedly to an opinion article he wrote opposing the auto bailout. The headline: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”

“It is treacherou­s to be against the autoworker­s,” Grossmann said.

The president has appeared mindful of the dilemma, saying little about the strike. On Monday, the first day of the walkout, he told reporters at the White House the dispute was “sad” and he made a distinctio­n between workers and their union leaders.

“I don’t want General Motors to be building plants outside of this country,” he said. “My relationsh­ip has been very powerful with the auto workers — not necessaril­y the top person or two, but the people that work doing automobile­s.”

The strike is playing out as a federal corruption investigat­ion against top UAW officials widens. The FBI raided UAW President Gary Jones’ suburban Detroit home last month and prosecutor­s have charged 11 people in the investigat­ion so far, leading many of the 49,000 workers nationwide to question whether leaders have their backs .

Trump may be wise to try to separate union workers from their leaders.

Although union members have historical­ly supported Democrats, Trump’s promises to rewrite free trade agreements appeared to resonate with many in manufactur­ing areas. Nationally, union members were just slightly more likely than other voters to support Democrats in 2018, when the party gained control of the House. Six in 10 union voters supported Democratic candidates in House races, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters nationwide.

But Trump has struggled to make good on promises to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas.

From the first announceme­nt in 2018, he was quick to criticize GM for wanting to close U.S. plants, an issue at the center of current fight. He met with CEO Mary Barra at the White House on Sept. 5, days after suggesting the company should move jobs from China to the U.S. GM has not been persuaded yet.

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