U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)speaks at a get out the vote event at Solidarity House in Detroit on Nov. 1 2024, days before the presidential election. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)
The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) is a fighting union, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Friday night while rallying with members in Detroit.
Speaking outside Solidarity House, the international home of the UAW, Ocasio-Cortez looked out at the crowd of a few hundred union members, thanking them for all the doors they’ve knocked for Vice President Kamala Harris and for the work they’ve done to protect the working class.
“UAW is going to be the union that protects women’s rights in America. UAW is going to be the front line in defending our democracy in America,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I’m here because if there’s any place that I want to be on the precipice of such an important moment, it’s with you all.”
The UAW is raising the bar for every working American, Ocasio-Cortez said, not just for autoworkers.
Last year the union waged a historic 46-day strike against Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — and won new contracts to meet their demands. However, the union is still putting pressure on Stellantis to make good on its promises.
What can be won at the bargaining table can be taken away in the halls of justice, UAW President Shawn Fain said at Friday’s rally. That’s why the UAW gets involved in politics and is fighting just as hard in the election as they did on the picket line.
On stage overlooking the Detroit River, Fain quoted former UAW President Walter Reuther, saying, “There’s a direct correlation between a ballot box and a bread box.”
“The billionaire and corporate class don’t stop their attacks at the bargaining table,” Fain said. “They don’t stop at the workplace. They don’t stop at the border. They will take every inch that we give them. And the UAW founding leaders made it our responsibility to engage politically.”
Detroit is where solidarity was built, Fain said, and America was built by solidarity, not billionaires or politicians. And on Tuesday, the UAW is betting on the fall of former President Donald Trump, who has railed against union organizing.
This summer, the UAW filed federal charges against Trump and his biggest donor, Tesla founder Elon Musk, asserting that they illegally intimidated and threatened workers, after the pair talked about labor practices during a live conversation on X.
The same evening the UAW was hosting its event in Detroit, Trump was hurling insults 20 miles north in Warren, saying Fain is a “poor, stupid fool.”
Fain and the UAW have been avid supporters of Harris’ campaign, with Fain and union members sharing the stage during Harris’ first presidential campaign visit to Michigan in August. Fain also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August, where he revealed the “Trump is a scab” T-shirt that is now worn by UAW members.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who also was campaigning in Michigan on Friday, walked with striking UAW members on the picket line last year. Harris walked with striking UAW workers in 2019.
While President Joe Biden joined Fain and striking UAW workers in September 2023 in Michigan, Trump rallied at a non-union plant in Macomb County amid the “Stand up Strike.”
Several Democratic candidates and officials spoke at the event, including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Kimberly Ann Thomas, a Democratic-nominated Michigan Supreme Court candidate. Thomas is seeking an eight-year term and is running against state Rep. Andrew Fink (R-Adams Twp.). Justice Kyra Bolden Harris, who was nominated by Democrats, is running for a partial, four-year term against Branch County Circuit Court Judge Patrick William O’Grady, who was chosen by Republicans.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) encouraged voters not to forget the nonpartisan section of the ballot where state Supreme Court candidates are listed. The two seats up for grabs that will determine the partisan majority of the state’s highest court.
And although Tlaib spoke ardently about her support for the UAW and the need to turn out the vote, she did not talk about Harris. As the only Palestinian American in Congress, Tlaib has withheld an endorsement for Harris out of disapproval for the Biden administration’s Gaza policy.
As Trump and Harris scrape for votes in all corners of Michigan, Arab-American voters and those who support the pro-Palestinian movement could be a crucial in a razor-thin race. Before Harris became the Democratic nominee, more than 100,000 Michiganders voted “uncommitted” instead of Biden in the Democratic presidential primary in an effort to draw attention to the violence in Gaza.
Trump, Harris and Green Party nominee Jill Stein have all secured endorsements from various Muslim and Arab-American leaders and groups.
But unlike Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez and other members of “The Squad” are behind Harris this election. Winning the election for Harris is going to be hard work, but hard work is nothing novel in places like Detroit or the Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that her New York neighborhood is like the cousin of Motown.
“We got the same fight and spirit out here. We got a chip on our shoulder because we know what it means to be underestimated, and we know what it means to come from a place where people want to talk down on us, but they actually don’t know the first thing about us,” Ocasio-Cortez said, a jab at Trump’s comments last month while in Detroit saying, “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Harris becomes president.
There’s no shame in hard work, Ocasio-Cortez said, recalling doing her homework on other people’s kitchen tables growing up while her mother cleaned other people’s houses. She would later join her mother cleaning houses and then worked as a waitress before beating a 10-term incumbent to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Hell yeah, we’re gonna be like Detroit,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We’re gonna knock on every door. We’re gonna turn out the vote, and we’re gonna remind people what happens when you forget where you come from. … Because Detroit will not allow a scab in the White House, not if UAW has anything to do with it.”
Trump is sowing seeds of division, Fain said, adding that he’s no different than bosses that attempt to halt labor organization in order to hold onto flimsy power at the expense of the working class. Disinformation is one of Trump’s biggest tools, along with turning members of the working class against each other.
But Michigan sees through the lies, Benson told the crowd.
Right now there is a “very serious, coordinated effort rooted in lies and misinformation and discord” trying to convince Michigan voters that the election doesn’t matter, that the results won’t be accurate, Benson said. This is Trump’s repeat of his attempts in 2020 to sow chaos amid the democratic processes, saying the election was “stolen” and inciting the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump is trying to make voters feel small, like their voices don’t matter, Benson said, in an effort to roll back the advancements of democracy, advancements the UAW has also fought for.
“What those bullies don’t want us to do is stand up to them,” Benson said. “We’re going to stand up to anyone, anywhere, anytime who tries to stand in the way of our rights and our freedoms. We will stand up to bullies. We will stand up to lies. We will stand up to anyone who tries to take our voices away and say ‘Not on our watch.’”
As of Friday, more than 2.5 million ballots had been cast in Michigan through early in-person voting and absentee ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election, Benson said.
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