Wearing a UAW hat and a sweatshirt with the presidential seal, Biden triggered broad applause when he told the crowd of about 200 people that they “deserve a significant raise.”

“Let’s keep going,” he said later, before walking among the picketers to give out fist bumps and pose for selfies. “You deserve what you’ve earned. And you deserve a whole hell of a lot more than you’re getting paid now.”

  • Making a stand in favor of Unions at that time could have expedited negotiations without disrupting the economy with a prolonged shutdown, but the status quo for the last few decades has been to to force workers to work in favor of shareholders. They figured it wouldn’t be as big of a deal since it hasn’t been until recently, and they learned their political calculus was off.