The old “What’s the matter with Kansas” question can certainly be applied to union workers in America. Forty-five years ago the leadership of the Teamsters formed an unholy alliance with Ronald Reagan and rank and file union members of most blue collar unions went along for the ride. Reagan as we know wasted little time before beginning his union BUSTING policies. And union workers have been screwed over by conservatives ever since. Slowly, too slowly unions have been making a comeback but even when some leaders speak up and advocate for the ones supporting WORKERS, as in Democrats many of the rank and file stubbornly ignore the fact that Democrats are and have always been there for them while conservatives/Republicans have put the screws to them whenever possible.
No union leader was more forceful and vocal in supporting first Joe Biden, and then Kamala Harris this past year than UAW President Shawn Fain. He touted Biden being the first U.S. President to walk a picket line and it was a critical strike going on. A strike which, when things were settled greatly benefited the UAW’s workers and the effects spread to other unions. Not for nothing, but what sometimes got lost was that a couple of years before the sitting President stood on the picket line, the sitting Vice-President Kamala Harris walked a picket line herself! So, when Biden stepped aside and Harris became our presumptive and then actual nominee Shawn Fain ‘loudly and proudly’ sang her praises. More importantly he delivered the UAW endorsement to Harris.
Now he finds himself about to be a target because as we know Trump hates unions, and because Fain was VERY pointed in his criticism of Trump. Having grown up in union country I can assure anyone that for blue-collar union workers calling someone a SCAB is “fighting words.” And that exactly what Fain called Trump. Multiple times. As you can see in the title picture Fain wasn’t shy about proclaiming Trump a Scab even when he wasn’t saying the actual words. So, hell yes, Trump will have his people looking to f**k over the UAW and Shawn Fain in particular as this article by CNN indicates.
The article starts out noting Fain is going to have a powerful enemy. Then again he’s used to making powerful enemies, yet has won more often than he’s lost:
In May 2023 he toppled the long-entrenched leadership of the UAW, running as an outsider in the first popular vote for the union presidency. Despite winning by only a 500-vote margin, Fain took quick action, leading the first-ever strike against GM, Ford and Stellantis, at the same time in September, a strategy few industry observers thought the union would try after decades of striking only one company at a time.
He ended up winning record contracts that included an immediate wage increase of at least 11% and a $5,000 signing bonus, raises totaling 25% through the four-year life of the contract, a return of cost-of-living adjustments to protect against inflation and increased job security guarantees
So, Fain delivered for his members. Okay, so some have issues with provisions regarding EVs but even there Fain’s team won some protections. Still, he was the highest profile union backer of Harris and the harshest union leader critic of Trump. Fain even wore a ‘Trump Is A Scab’ t-shirt at the Democratic National Convention! Again however is the fact that Fain delivered for his members. But, as the linked article says Trump will be coming for him come Jan. 20 and so will plenty of Trump’s billionaire pals. Including no doubt Musk(rat). It will be intense and Fain will likely face a fight to keep his position when he’s up for re-election himself in 2026:
Support for Trump has grown among rank-and-file union members, particularly among blue-collar union members without a college degree.
CNN exit polls show that 45% of voters from households with a union member voted for Trump this year, up from 40% in 2020 and 42% in 2016.
The UAW released its own poll two weeks before the election that it said showed majority support for Harris over Trump among UAW rank-and-file, especially in battleground states like Michigan, where it has more than 300,000 active and retired members. But it also showed a large percentage of members still undecided even that close to the election.
After over four freaking decades you’d think union members would know that Democrats will fight FOR them and Republicans will fight AGAINST them but that’s a lesson many refuse to learn. Hence the echo of ‘What’s the matter with Kansas’ as in people voting against their own best interests. And the interests of their co-workers and friends. And communities! I marvel at the phenomenon. I really do. Are so-called culture wars THAT huge? People still get to go to church each Sunday and worship their Jeebus. They don’t face throngs of protesters blocking the streets to do so. They still get to have their GUNS and with damned few restrictions, although even most of them support common sense stuff like universal background checks, and even ‘red flag’ laws that allow local LE to take guns from people if a judge agrees that person is for a specified period of time a danger to themselves or others. I just don’t get it.
What I DO get is that Fain is in for one hell of a fight. Whether he wins will be a matter of who manages to “frame” the issue when union workers find their contracts and jobs under attack. You can be sure that MUSK will use Xhitter to blame Fain, and Zuckerberg will likely allow FB/Meta to do the same. Fain faces an uphill battle so hopefully he’s already mapped out a strategy to inform members at the local level what’s coming. A “This is the bullshit they will claim, and here is the truth and how we fight back” set of materials and lectures from the local leaders. And Fain making the same points with national news outlets not so cowed by Trump as to give him a platform.
Make no mistake though. The Union Busting is a coming. And it’s a safe bet that Trump will make a concerted effort to place all the blame for union workers woes that HE will cause on UAW President Shawn Fain. We can only hope Fain and other union leaders can lead their rank and file through all the misinformation and park the truth deep in their minds well before the main attack starts when 2026 and the midterms roll around.
When you pray for rain, you’ve got to deal with the mud. Danzel Washington in the Equalizer
The dumbasses asked for it…now they’ll get what they asked for.
As Mencken said: Democracy is the theory the common man knows what he wants, and deserves to get it good and hard.
We’ve all seen people do the cut off their nose to spite their face routine. MAGA is a movement of millions of such people.
I would love to see Trump finding out that no construction workers want to build his crap.properties, and they are unionizing. Not gonna happen but a girl.can dream.