Biden’s Michigan moment

Sep 25, 2023

Presented by Supernal

With help from Hannah Pinski

Quick fix

— President Joe Biden will stand with auto workers in Michigan, a key test of his labor bona fides and a potential test of his EV policies.

— How UAW President Shawn Fain ascended the ranks as an outsider.

— A shutdown will bring pain for the transportation sector.

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Driving the day

HEADING TO THE PICKET LINE: Biden is heading to Michigan on Tuesday, and his decision to join picketing auto workers drew praise from elected Democrats (particularly from the left), some of whom had questioned his response to the ongoing United Auto Workers strike. But the visit will be a key moment for Biden — both the political optics of showing up a day before Donald Trump visits Michigan and how his administration navigates the sometimes competing interests of unionized labor with the electrification of transport. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Sunday on CBS that Biden showing up to the picket line is a “historic event” while also emphasizing that he needs to earn the UAW’s endorsement for his reelection campaign.

It’s telling that the Biden administration’s Sunday show voice ahead of the important visit was DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who appeared on NBC, ABC and CNN. Buttigieg reiterated the well-trod line of Biden being “the most pro-union, pro-worker president” but also took a shot at the Trump administration’s “anti-union policies.”

Biden’s visit is a rewrite of his administration’s previously behind-the-scenes labor playbook, Tanya, Holly Otterbein and Olivia Olander report, the most visible step any president has taken on behalf of striking workers, as well as a tacit acknowledgment that the political moment demands a more demonstrative approach.

The strike itself expanded on Friday, after UAW President Shawn Fain announced that parts distribution center workers at more than three dozen Stellantis and General Motors facilities across 20 states will join the roughly 12,700 union members already on strike. Roughly 5,625 workers joined the picket line, most of them at relatively small distribution centers. The move excludes Ford, which Fain said had been making strides at the negotiating table. Nick Niedzwiadek has more.

“Ford is showing they’re serious about reaching a deal; at GM and Stellantis, it’s a different story,” he said.

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Automobiles

SHOW OF DEFIANCE: Steven Greenhouse chronicles Fain’s rise as a local union official at a Chrysler plant in Kokomo, Indiana to the top dog in Detroit. In 2007, as UAW leaders agreed to concessions that led to the reduced starting pay and tiered wage system that UAW is now demanding must end – Fain publicly voiced his opposition. In a letter to UAW leadership that reached the media, he said that in approving those concessions, “you might as well get a gun and shoot yourself in the head.”

As he ascended the UAW ranks, Fain became known for his unremitting opposition to concessions, a stance that has directly led to the walkout in which the UAW, for the first time ever, has struck all three Detroit automakers at once. Fain had a bumpy ascent within the 400,000-member UAW. Sometimes union leaders “moved him up in the hope of shutting him up,” said Scott Houldieson, a Ford assembly plant worker in Chicago and long-time UAW dissident. Other times UAW leaders grew irate with Fain and demoted him. But a corruption scandal in which a dozen UAW leaders were convicted of embezzlement gave Fain an opening, and he won a contested election to lead the union last year, setting in motion the current standoff with the Big Three.

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Around the Agencies

BRINGING THE PAIN: A shutdown would furlough more than one-third of FAA employees, your transportation team reports, and the five-week partial shutdown in 2018-19 cost the U.S. economy about $3 billion even after everything was turned back on, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

DOT’s updated shutdown plan was released over the weekend, and nearly 28,000 DOT employees would stay on the job in case of a shutdown because their work is “necessary to protect life and property,” or because the funding for their positions doesn’t come from annual appropriations or for another reason. Those furloughed include people performing facility security inspections, those working on technology modernization and safety efforts, law enforcement assistance support and most functions related to finance, budgeting and administration. Air traffic controllers will mostly work without pay.

About 350 Federal Railroad Administration employees would be furloughed and the agency would not be able to execute new contracts or purchase orders. And 75 percent of DOT’s inspector general’s office would be furloughed, making it by far the most dramatically impacted section of the department. Employees at the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Transit Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration won’t be impacted because those employees are paid out of the Highway Trust Fund and other sources not dependent on annual government funding.

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Rail

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program is receiving a $1.4 billion investment that will fund 70 freight rail and passenger projects in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Mitch Landrieu, White House infrastructure coordinator, said that the projects will improve community safety and strengthen the resilience of rail infrastructure against extreme weather and impacts of climate change during a White House press call on Friday. Out of the investment, $26 million will also fund workforce development projects.

Buttigieg said that two-thirds of the investment goes toward rural America. Examples of projects that will receive funding include modernizing Nebraksa’s regional freight line, replacing diesel locomotives with zero exhaust trains in Maryland, and upgrading 40 bridges and 10 shortline rails in Tennessee.

Transit

ALL HAIL OUR ROBOT OVERLORDS: New York City Mayor Eric Adams unveiled an autonomous robot that will patrol one of the city’s busiest subway stations, Joe Anuta reports, a drone that will work the overnight shift in Times Square to capture video footage as part of a larger effort to reduce crime.

But civil rights activists have concerns. Shane Ferro, a staff attorney with Legal Aid, argued that much is unknown about the potential effects of the K5 robot, including who has access to the data it collects and where it is stored. The K5 model has also been reported in years past to have run over a child and rolled itself — fatally — into a fountain.

Shifting Gears

Kristen Prather is joining the National Automobile Dealers Association as director of policy and grassroots advocacy. She previously was state director of grassroots programs at the Credit Union National Association. (h/t Daniel Lippman)

The Autobahn

— “The rise in car thefts has experts searching for weak spots.” Bloomberg.

— “1st Brightline train from Miami to Orlando delayed due to deadly crash along route.” WFLA.

— “New habits are making more commutes miserable.” Washington Post.

— “Autoworkers used to be the best-paid workers in the U.S. What happened?” Washington Post.

— “The rising costs of owning a car.” New York Times.

— “UAW files labor complaint against Sen. Tim Scott for saying ‘You strike, you’re fired.’” The Intercept.

— “McCarthy reverses on Ukraine aid as GOP scrambles on funding bills.” POLITICO.

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