With the November presidential election likely to result in several thousand votes in battleground states like Michigan, Bernie Sanders told the Michigan Advance on Saturday that the 2023 United Auto Workers (UAW) strike played a key role in voter mobilization .
Sanders who stood in Detroit with union leaders on the first day of the UAW’s historic six-week strike against Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers – Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – said in a telephone interview that the union’s success sends a clear message to politicians that the status quo for the working class is “unacceptable.”
“I think the UAW not only won a very good contract for its members, but it inspired millions of working-class people across the country,” Sanders said: noticing questionnaire during the strike reflected the majority of Americans’ support for striking workers at auto plants across the country.
And so are wages stagnationone sec CEO salaries will escalateSanders said the issue of “corporate greed” appeals to middle-class voters. Vice President Kamala Harris understands that and is responding to it, he said, while former President Donald Trump touts it anti-union politics AND points of view.
“It’s not just the UAW; not only the automotive industry. This happens in virtually every sector of our country. The very wealthy are getting much richer; working families are struggling. We have to stand up and fight. That’s what the UAW did, and I think it motivated a lot of other unions to do the same thing,” Sanders said. “Young people want to join trade unions. Unions are historically popular now, so I think the UAW has played a very, very critical role.
The Advance asked Sanders about one of the nation’s largest labor unions, the 1.3 million-member Teamsters, refrains from endorsing Trump or Harris and The International Association of Firefighters followed suit.
But those are just two unions, Sanders said, adding that there are dozens of them other unions showed robust support for Harris who walked with striking UAW workers in 2019, while Trump visited a non-union factory in Macomb County during the 2023 strike.
“I think the choice is pretty clear in terms of who supports unions,” Sanders said.
Sanders and Harris are former political rivals who were seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Sanders, however, said they didn’t agree on everything, but agreed on enough issues for him to go to swing states to rally support for her campaign.
“I learned from her that she is very, very smart, very focused and very tough. She’s an impressive person and I think she’d be a great president,” Sanders said. “I hope she has learned that in this richest country on Earth there are many, many millions of people who are struggling financially and that it is important to respond to the needs of these people and listen to their pain and that it is immoral that we live in an economy where so few have so much wealth.”
On the road between appearances at Warren and Saginaw on Saturday, Sanders told the Michigan Advance that he hopes youthful people will exercise their voting power in November. To that end, he will talk to Michigan State University students on Sunday.
Students at universities across the country, including Michigan, were the epicenter of public protests against the war in Gazawith the emergence of pro-Palestinian camps on campuses and criminal charges brought against protesters at the University of Michigan.
It’s also a major problem in Michigan, where 100,000 voters this winter voted “Uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary instead of for President Joe Biden, before Harris became the party’s nominee.
Michigan’s 16 electoral votes fell just brief in 2020, as Biden triumphed in the state by about 154,000 votes.
Many members of Michigan’s huge Arab-American community have complained about Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas that has been raging for nearly a year, and continue to demand that Harris take a more aggressive stance, such as pledging to end aid to Israel.
While Israel had the right to defend itself against the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack, Sanders said, the United States should not have offered military aid to Israel when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched “a war against the entire Palestinian nation.” “
“While I have strongly supported the Biden administration’s domestic agenda, the president and I disagree greatly on this,” Sanders said. “Even on this issue, Trump will be worse. I think we have Republicans who are not even prepared to support humanitarian aid [to] children who are starving and injured. … And I hope that despite the Biden administration’s disappointment on Gaza, and I understand that, I sympathize with it, I think the choice remains clear: we have to support Kamala and defeat Donald Trump. “
It’s encouraging that the younger generation in particular is demanding progressive and fair policies that benefit the average person, Sanders said. While youthful people have risen up against racism, sexism and homophobia in recent history, he said, the current youthful generation is “probably the most progressive younger generation in the history of this country.”
“They are leading the fight to transform our energy system and save the planet from climate change. So this is a great generation of youthful people, but… you can’t put into practice what you believe in if you’re not engaged in the political process and you don’t vote,” Sanders said.
In the 2022 November election, Michigan voter participation between the ages of 18 and 29 was approximately 37%. higher than any other state in the country. Fellow battleground state Wisconsin led the charge with even younger voters, including almost half of eligible voters under 25 years of age voting in November 2022. In both cases, the elections resulted in major victories Democratic candidates IN statewide elections.
Even still turnout among youthful voters is uncertainas do approximately 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds in Michigan who have registered to vote did not vote in 2022.
Sanders said Harris’ campaign is showing up in the states, working with local and statewide leaders to make her message clear in different corners of the country.
Young people need to understand that what they believe in needs to be heard on Election Day, as the threat of climate change threatens to destroy the future and the government stands in the way of women’s health care. Sanders said he wants youthful people to understand what Trump believes climate change is a hoax and this the government should have a say in reproductive health care while Harris fights for the future of youthful people.
But youthful voters will have to deliver the first blow in November.
“I hope that as youthful people look at the critical issues – women’s rights, civil rights, climate, income and wealth inequality, higher education and health care costs – on all of these issues, Kamala Harris is much, much better than Donald Trump and I have hope that youthful people will come out, vote and change this election,” Sanders said.
