UAW Chief Slams 'Job-Killer-in-Chief' Trump Ahead of Michigan Visit

The head of the largest U.S. autoworkers union on Thursday highlighted the yawning chasm between former President Donald Trump's campaign promises to protect the country's auto industry and the 2024 Republican nominee's White House record—which includes hundreds of thousands of lost manufacturing jobs.

Speaking on a call hosted by the campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain argued that "there is a stark contrast between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris."

"Kamala Harris has stood with labor," Fain said of the UAW-endorsed candidate. "She's walked the walk. Donald Trump serves himself. He's always served himself."

Taking aim at Trump's claims that he's the best choice for U.S. autoworkers and that he's "always had their back," Fain said:

Look at the Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant. [Trump] told workers there, "Don't sell your houses." The plant closed. He came to Warren, Michigan, a week ago or two. Again, wants to talk about how he cares about autoworkers. But we had [General Motors'] powertrain plant in Warren closed under his watch. He did nothing. Trump stood there in 2016 and promised that he wouldn't allow a single plant to close.

However, plant closures and offshoring increased during the Trump administration, during which domestic auto production plummeted from nearly 12.2 million units in 2016, the last full year of the Obama administration, to under 8.2 million units in 2020, Trump's last full year in office, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. While Covid-19 affected that year's production, fewer than 10.9 million vehicles were manufactured domestically in pre-pandemic 2019.

Fain, who noted this trend, called Trump the "job-killer-in-chief."

The UAW chief also mocked reports that numerous attendees wearing "autoworkers for Trump" T-shirts at a Tuesday rally for the Republican in Detroit weren't actually autoworkers.

"It's pathetic. Everything he does is a con," Fain said of Trump.

Referring to the multibillionaire CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, Fain added that Trump "sits there and applauds Elon Musk for trying to fire striking workers, and they laugh about that."

"And that's why I said Donald Trump is a scab," the union leader added, using the term for nonunion workers who cross picket lines during strikes.

During last year's UAW strike for a fair contract, President Joe Biden made history by becoming the first-ever sitting U.S. president to join striking workers on a picket line. Four years earlier, Harris, then a U.S. senator from California running for president, walked a picket line with striking UAW workers in Reno, Nevada.

The Biden-Harris administration has often been called the most pro-labor presidency in modern history.

Fain's remarks came hours before Trump infuriated many Michiganders by telling local business owners at a Detroit rally that if Harris wins, the entire country will "end up being like Detroit"—which is in the midst of an economic revival.

Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who represents the city, admonished Trump to "keep Detroit and our people out of your mouth."

"Detroit is a city with a booming economy, diverse culture, and some of the best people in America," he said, adding that the heavily Democratic city "will elect Kamala Harris."

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said Thursday: "Plain and simple, a second Donald Trump presidency would be a disaster for Michigan workers. His agenda will raise costs and kill jobs."

"When he was president," she added, "Trump gave tax cuts to the wealthy at the expense of Michigan's working families, tanked our economy during the pandemic, and only helped the rich get richer."