Presidents Trump and Biden court the hard working American auto worker

How union struggles are incorporated into the morality of US society:

The moral element in the value of labor power in the USA

In its September 2023 strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis,[1] the UAW was enjoying broad public support for its resolute struggle from members of both political parties:

“There’s a range of working Americans that feel an immediate distaste of growing inequality, because it reflects their inability to have a secure or decent life. And the president and Shawn Fain are each dealing with that.” (Washington Post, October 2, 2023)

Working Americans, who share the experience of being unable to lead a secure or decent life in American capitalism, get something out of the idea that they should be able to enjoy the proletarian version of a “decent life” in a nation which, after all, produces a lot of super-rich people. They expect this as their “fair share.” They see the fact that this is denied to them as a one-sided termination of the basis of their collaboration in the creation of wealth by those who benefit from it. That’s why they are flirting with a union struggle for what is rightfully theirs.

Shawn Fain, the head of the UAW, invokes this prevalent attitude when he puts his union’s strike in the context of a broader social debate.

“United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who proceeded to deliver a seven-minute stemwinder, casting the strike as emblematic of a broader war between the rich and the poor and blasting the “billionaire class” of besuited executives as the source of many of the nation’s problems. ‘Today, the enemy isn’t some foreign country miles away,’ Fain said. ‘It’s right here in our own area. It’s corporate greed.’” (WP October 2, 2023)

The “war” being waged against the “greed” of the “billionaire class,” in the union leader’s view, is about nothing less than tackling the “problems” of the American nation. This demands the restoration of a government that represents America: the union writes on its picket signs that its aim is to “Save the American Dream.” This “dream” consists in the staunch determination to make it in the American competitive society and the expectation that workers should be able to do so. The union invokes this attitude as one that unites all citizens of the American nation beyond all class and status differences, but also forms a binding and obligatory compact that must apply to everyone. For organized workers, this is not dreaming beyond their means. Their dream will be saved when housing and food for a family and a pension in old age are secure. May all get their due. However, the proffered moral compact in which an American worker must be worth at least that much leaves a lot to be desired. This is demonstrated by the fact that the UAW must wage a struggle for its moral worth. Regardless, the moral justification for its struggle is acknowledged – and indeed from the highest level.

President Biden makes an appearance at the UAW picket line – as the first incumbent in US history to do so. He has a lot to gain from the union’s slogan, which ideally reconciles the interests of its members with those of capital – “record profits – record contracts.” The President agrees with the union when it argues that it’s only fair that the success of American companies should also provide a “dignified” life for their workers. Making a reality of this view of the value of American labor power is something he leaves up to the union. In the end, the President applauds the contract between Ford and the UAW. In doing so, he gives it a higher political meaning that is important to him as the overall head of his class society:

“‘This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on and retire with dignity and respect,’ he added.” (Biden in WP, October 25, 2023)

For the President, the struggle that workers have to wage against companies for their livelihoods is proof of the harmonious congruence of corporate success and a dignified working life in its service, which, according to the president’s definition, consists of maintaining a family and a respectable retirement. This is how he integrates the union struggle into his program. He assigns the union a constructive role within his project of “building America back better.” The Biden administration appreciates unions as contributors to a “more robust” and “more resilient” economic growth when they succeed in consolidating the living conditions of their members in that they are reliably available as a work force. Not only that, but the Biden administration also assumes that this elementary self-preservation, as an indispensable means of economic growth, has become precarious for significant sections of the American workforce, alias the “middle class.” There is a lack of “good jobs” in the sense defined by Biden. In order for the unions to play their intended role in the restructuring of the “middle class,” the Biden administration is supporting them with requirements tying companies’ access to the lavish funds being provided as part of the government’s investment in infrastructure and in the promotion of the energy transition to collective bargaining agreements. In doing so, the pro-union president is explicitly distancing himself from the treatment of unions as a harmful disruption of business peace by some of his predecessors and Republican legislators in the southern states. In contrast to them, Biden claims that well-paid jobs are the basis for the growth of the American economy and, conversely, wants all his administration’s measures promoting economic growth to be seen as serving the need of his hard-working “folks” for adequate jobs – as expanding the US capitalist economy “from the middle out and the bottom up, instead of the top down,” but always in such a way that “record profits” form the basis for “record contracts.” In this way, the correct order is maintained in the purported reciprocal support in which business success is there for well-paid jobs and vice versa. This also applies to Biden’s aforementioned measures to support union activity. With his political support for the unions, Biden makes the improvement of the situation of the working “middle class” dependent on what the unions are able to push through. In this way, he respects the right of companies to ultimately decide which wage level reached in agreements with a union suits their profit calculations.

Biden’s appreciation of the hard working American as the “center” and foundation of the nation, as well as his praise of the unions, is linked to the more narrowly political goal of healing the rift between the working class and the “establishment.” The hard working American should recognize his nation, led by a Democrat, as his home where he has a place that is respected both materially and morally. In this way, the President ultimately appeals to the patriot in the working man. The declared friend of the unions expects something in return for his support: he is counting on the workers who are currently struggling to make a living and all those who sympathize with them to repay his pro-union commitment by giving him their votes as citizens in the next reassignment of presidential power.

The political competition also knows all about turning union rebellion into an opportunity to carry out the struggle for state power. Trump tells the strikers that their problem is actually the wrong president who is making the switch to electric vehicles with his communist climate policy. As is well known, these are all manufactured in China, which is why American workers are losing their jobs. Trump – and his rivals in the Republican Party do the same – simply ignores the material demands that the union is making on American companies. With his brazen change of subject, however, he is offering a clear direction: What the American worker needs is Trump, the man who puts “America” “first!” always and everywhere, in the presidency. “Just get your union guys, your leaders, to endorse me and I will take care of the rest,” said Trump. (The Guardian, October 28, 2023) Trump addresses the hard working American as a dependent – dependent on the success of the companies they work for and dependent on the power of a president who guarantees this success. The defensive battle that workers are forced to wage against corporations for the sake of their livelihoods is something they should confidently abandon and instead put their fate entirely in Trump’s hands. If they behave so completely as his proteges, they will have done something to ensure that Trump becomes the leader. He will give the workers their due when he makes America great according to his vision. It is clear what hard working Americans are entitled to in any case: Trump as president.

[1] See: An American union struggles for recognition: What is a hard-working American and what does he need?