Biden To Deliver Remarks At Union Event, Expected To Pick Up Key Endorsement

President Joe Biden is shortly due to deliver remarks at the United Auto Workers annual conference in Washington, where he is widely expected to pick up a key endorsement from UAW chief Shawn Fain. LIVESTREAM

• An endorsement from Fain, who emerged last year as a powerful organiser of union labour, would be a major boost in rust-belt states where the union vote is seen as critical to Biden’s re-election chances. Bloomberg notes: "The Rust Belt delivered Trump the presidency in 2016 and helped seal Biden’s victory in 2020."
• The endorsement, should it come, would also go some way to repairing damage to Biden’s self-proclaimed union credentials which suffered during a series of executive strike-breaking actions in 2022.
• Semafor notes: “Biden joined [UAW] workers during their strike earlier this year, making him the first active president to ever walk a picket line. It was a defining moment in what has often been described as a resurgent year for organized labor…”
• However, Semafor points out that, “the share of all workers belonging to unions has edged down ever so slightly to 10%,” slightly weakening the strength of the union vote.