The United Auto Workers, one of the nation's largest unions, remains on strike as of this writing, and as we enter an election year, politicians have already begun posturing. Both sides of the partisan divide, including Joe Biden and Donald Trump, are attempting to score points by siding with the UAW against the car companies.
For his part, Trump has already planned a speech in Detroit to speak to the auto workers on Wednesday after he previously offered his support. Biden is set to preempt him, though, after receiving a personal invite from the union's far-left leader to join the picket line the day before.
UAW leaders and directors are also already on the attack.
“Just look who Trump put in the courts,” said Dave Green, the UAW regional director for Ohio and Indiana. “Look at his record with the labor relations board. He did nothing to support organized labor except lip service.”
That's the problem with trying to suck up to the unions. In the end, they are still unions.
Republicans managed to win a larger share of the union vote in 2016, and they've been chasing that rabbit ever since. How has that worked out? Given the GOP has gotten its clock cleaned in Michigan in every election since 2018, the answer is not very well.
To be clear, the UAW's demands are absolutely insane. Not only do they want a 46 percent pay increase, but they want a 32-hour work week as well. If they succeed in getting those concessions, guess who gets to pay for it? That would be the people who buy cars and trucks, and if you are reading this, you are probably in that number.
That's always been the tension with the Republican Party's more recent attempts to appeal to union workers. You might garner a little support at the edges, but at what cost? Because nothing is free, and when you start giving into the unions in order to try to buy their votes, normal people are the ones who pay the price. What's next? Sucking up to the teachers' unions?
Don't kid yourself, if the UAW is successful in getting even a quarter of what it wants, the car companies will eventually fail again, and you will be on the hook for yet another taxpayer-funded bailout of the industry. We've all seen this movie before. It's not a mystery how this is going to go.
I know that saying that is going to earn me scorn because it will be assumed that I'm attacking the working class. That's preschool logic, though. I'm in the working class, and the vast majority of American workers do not belong to a union. I understand wanting to win states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, but there's not much point if Republicans are just going to do what Democrats would have done regarding labor policies.
I'm not saying that the GOP shouldn't try to earn the votes of union workers. I just don't think they should do so by giving up the farm in the process, especially when you and I will be the ones left holding the bag. I'm an equal opportunity hater, in that I have no love for the unions or the big corporations. Let them fight.
Mark my words, if Republicans continue down this path of kowtowing to big labor, we are going to end up in an even worse position down the road. Not only is it not going to win us elections (just as it hasn't over the last three cycles), but it's going to do real harm to the nation. Tread lightly.
