TOPSHOT – United Automobile Workers President Shawn Fain speaks on the first day of the Democratic … [+] National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Some roll up their sleeves when they’re ready to fight. During a prime time speech during this week’s Democratic National Convention, United Autoworkers Union president Shawn Fain ripped off his blazer to expose a T-shirt emblazoned with “Trump is a scab. Vote Harris.”
Indeed, just shy of a year from staging the first simultaneous strikes against the Detroit Three automakers and winning major concessions, it’s once again the season of Fain.
Experts say, his aggressiveness, bombastic style and successes could very well affect the outcome of what’s expected to be a very close U.S. presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We haven’t seen a UAW leader as iconic as Shawn Fain is rapidly becoming since Walter Reuther,” declared Harley Shaiken, a labor expert and professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, in an interview. “We all know this is an election that’s going to be decided by a few swing states. None are more important than Michigan, and the UAW is the largest union in Michigan and really has the ability to inspire its own members. But far beyond that, to reach into the broader community so it could make a real difference in the outcome of not simply Michigan, but the election as a whole, given how tight it could very well be.”
The comparison of Fain to Shaiken, the UAW’s fiery past president from 1946-1970, was echoed by David Jacobs, adjunct professor of management at American University’s Kogod School of Business.
“Reuther wanted to have influence on investment decisions. He couldn’t get that, but now Fain is trying to use green planning and Democratic support to sustain that vision of actually preserving jobs,” noted Jacobs, in an interview.
In his effort to preserve and create new jobs, Fain and the UAW have ratcheted up their presence and pressure over just the last nine days—actions that could very well have political implications.
The UAW filed federal labor charges on August 13 against former President Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk for comments made during an online interview threatening to illegally fire striking workers.
Fain’s feisty DNC speech enthusiastically endorsed Harris for president, along with harsh words for Trump.
“For us in the labor movement, it’s real simple,” Fain declared. “Kamala Harris is one of us. She’s a fighter for the working class, and Donald Trump is a scab.”
UAW members at the idled Stellantis assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois were schedule to stage a rally on Thursday after Fain charged the automaker’s CEO Carlos Tavares with reneging on what he termed in video as “commitments the company made in our last contract, including putting the brakes on re-opening the Belvidere Assembly plant.”
Fain has threatened to call a national strike against Stellantis over the issue.
A company statement said market conditions have caused it only to delay its production plans for the plant.
It went on to say, “The Company has not violated the commitments made in the Investment Letter included in the 2023 UAW Collective Bargaining Agreement and strongly objects to the Union’s accusations. In fact, the UAW agreed to language that expressly allows the Company to modify product investments and employment levels. Therefore, the Union cannot legally strike over a violation of this letter at this time.”
Nevertheless, Jacobs believes Fain is using this particular conflict to not only preserve jobs at Belvidere, but confidence in the union’s strength and political preferences.
“At the moment, he’s saying, look, autoworkers, we have scored significant gains, but in order to sustain them, we have to push the auto companies and also follow the selective path of protests that he introduced previously,” said Jacobs. “So it’s this combination of using legal powers, building coalitions, sustaining alliance with Democrats and winning hearts and alliance of other workers.”
Shaiken looks at a very real strike threat against Stellantis as a novel tactic that could have both business and political implications, noting, “it just keeps the heat on, versus something happening tomorrow. We’re in uncharted territory, but the electoral implications of this are pretty critical.”
The UAW originally endorsed President Joe Biden’s re-election, but not until January, after Biden became the first sitting president to join a picket line during the union’s strikes against the Detroit Three automakers. The delay was also a show of dissatisfaction with the Administration’s support for speeding up the transition to electric vehicles, which require fewer workers to produce.
Given the compressed time frame after Biden bowed out of the race, Fain and the union endorsed Harris almost immediately.
While Harris has reversed Biden’s standing in most polls, now surpassing Trump in several of them, the margin of victory for either is likely to be thin.
Even so, an endorsement doesn’t always guarantee victory. Despite winning the UAW endorsement over Trump in 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to the Republican by just 10,000 votes.
With that in mind, not all of the UAW’s 370,239 active or more than a half-million retirees are Democrats or plan to support Harris, but the union’s endorsement could shake loose some undecided votes in the vice president’s favor.
The big difference between 2016 and 2024 is Fain’s more bombastic style than that of then-UAW president Dennis Williams, who subsequently was convicted in a wide-ranging union corruption scandal. He spent nine months in prison.
Indeed, Shaiken points out Fain’s high-profile lambasting of Trump and support for Harris represents more than simply one union’s endorsement, but rather increased political clout for organized labor beyond the UAW.
“Organized labor as a whole has become significantly more influential, from the AFL CIO through a number of major unions. What Shawn Fain has done is put a stamp on that,” said Shaiken. “In all his talks, he doesn’t focus on UAW members. He focuses on the working class, meaning the gains that are won in Detroit can be felt in Minnesota, New York and elsewhere, and that we haven’t seen in a while. And that sense of inspired and engaged rank-and-file UAW members—as well as workers more generally—is pivotal in any election, but in a close election, it could prove decisive.”
As the Democratic National Convention comes to a close and the pace of the campaign accelerates to a sprint to Election Day, expect the rhetoric and attacks from both sides to become more heated.
Fain is not likely to put that blazer back on even as summer turns to fall, because, as he declared during his DNC speech, “In the words of the great American poet, Nelly, it’s getting hot in here.” And getting hotter.
