BELVIDERE, Ill. — President Joe Biden put on a red United Auto Workers t-shirt on Thursday as he wellknown a labor offer that will resume the Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois, dealingwith the factory’s redemption as a vindication of his choice to stand with striking union members as they required greater earnings.
“American employees are allset to work moredifficult than anybody else,” Biden informed cheering autoworkers in a neighborhood center in the northern Illinois city. “But they simply requirement to be provided a shot. A reasonable shot and a reasonable wage.”
He applauded the union members as “as hard, difficult, difficult as they come.” Someone in the audience yelled to the president, “That t-shirt looks great on you.”
“I’ve used this t-shirt a lot, guy,” Biden reacted. “You have no concept. I’ve been included with the UAW longer than you’ve been alive.” The crowd roared with laughter.
Biden checkedout a UAW picket line in Michigan in September to assistance the union throughout its targeted strikes versus Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Dodge and Ram automobiles. The strikes haveactually ended and agreements are still being completed.
“He came out and stood with the picketers,” stated Matt Franzen, the regional UAW president who presented Biden. “He’s constantly been for us, with us. He showed that.”
Biden advised the audience that Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican governmental election in 2024, wentto a nonunion center on his own journey to Michigan.
“I hope you guys have a memory,” Biden stated. “Where I come from, it matters.”
Biden’s reelection project on Thursday launched a video that slams Trump’s record on autoworkers and production while revealing the previous president playing golf. Another clip reveals Biden speaking through a bullhorn at the UAW picket line. “Joe Biden doesn’t simply talk, he provides,” the storyteller states.
Biden discovered that the Stellantis factory might close throughout a journey to Chicago on June 28, when he spoke about the economy.
The possibility endedupbeing an instant toppriority for Biden. He purchased up an financial analysis and spoke to business authorities about the plant, according to White House authorities. The Democratic president desired to program that his policies might provide for employees, rather than repeat the years of factory closures that had gutted parts of the Midwest and fed into a deep political divide.
The resuming “goes to the