In a speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday night, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union blasted former President Trump for calling for the removal of union President Sean Fain from his position for allowing automakers to build factories overseas.
In his more than 90-minute inaugural address, Trump accused China of building cars in Mexico to sell in the United States and “imposing no taxes or anything.”
“The United Auto Workers should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. The leadership of the United Auto Workers should be fired immediately and all autoworkers, union and non-union, should vote for Donald Trump because we will bring auto manufacturing back, and we will bring it back fast,” Trump said.
The union immediately contacted X and posted a rebuttal.
“@realDonaldTrump is a strikebreaker and billionaire and that’s what he represents. We know whose side we’re on. Not his.” The U.A.W. wrote.
The UAW endorsed President Biden in January as the two candidates competed for the support of key unions ahead of the 2024 election. The endorsement came after Biden became the first sitting president to visit historic picket lines in Michigan during the UAW union’s six-week strike against three major automakers last fall.
During his endorsement in January, Fein said Biden “heard the call and stood up and showed up” and called Trump a “scab,” a “billionaire” and someone who “goes against everything we stand for as a union.”
A few days later, Trump took to Truth Social to accuse Fain of being a “bad boy” who was helping “sell out the auto industry to a big power, a big powerful China.”
“Get rid of this drug and vote for DJT. I will bring the auto industry back to our country,” he wrote.
Although the UAW and Fain have voiced their dislike for the former president, the Republican National Convention saw a different union leader take the stage for the first time in its 121-year history.
Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Truck Drivers, called Trump a “tough bastard.”
Labor unions have not endorsed either candidate, and O’Brien said change is needed if the GOP wants to support labor unions because there are still Republicans in the party who are “actively opposed to labor unions.”
“Let me be clear: At the end of the day, the Teamsters aren’t interested in whether you have an R, D or I next to your name. What we want to know is what you’re doing to help the American worker,” O’Brien said.
