United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain isn’t taking Donald Trump’s attacks against him in silence.
During his speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday night, Trump blamed Fain for U.S. automakers building factories in other countries and called for Fain to be fired.
“The United Auto Workers ought to be ashamed for allowing this to happen, and the leader of the United Auto Workers should be fired immediately, and every single autoworker, union and nonunion, should be voting for Donald Trump, because we’re going to bring back car manufacturing and we’re going to bring it back fast,” Trump said.
Fain fired back on X (formerly Twitter) that same night.
“[Trump] is a scab and a billionaire and that’s who he represents,” Fain posted. “We know which side we’re on. Not his.”
The UAW endorsed Joe Biden in January, with Fain praising Biden and saying he “has always bet on the American worker and stood with the American worker.” In contrast, Fain said, Trump “has a history of serving himself and standing for the billionaire class.”
Back then, Trump called on UAW members to “get rid of this dope & vote for DJT. I will bring the Automobile Industry back to our Country.”
Fain’s tenure as UAW president brought the union a massive victory in negotiations with the three biggest U.S. automakers last year, and the UAW followed that by successfully organizing a Volkswagen auto plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this April, the first such occurrence in the South. At the time, this rattled Republican leaders and received little GOP support, if any.
In both victories, the UAW made sure to include measures that took climate change into account, which also rankled Republicans. Maybe that drove Trump’s response, which showed that the RNC’s invite to the Teamsters president earlier this week wasn’t really a sign that the party will suddenly be friendly toward labor.
On Monday, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the RNC, drawing criticism from Democrats and other labor advocates for joining a party with a reputation for hurting workers. O’Brien had reached out to the Democratic National Committee as well as the RNC, but only Republicans replied, appearing to give Republicans a momentary edge with unions.
But it was only just momentary, as Trump’s remarks against Fain revealed. The GOP still doesn’t support unions or improving the rights of workers, but will take a good PR image whenever they can get it.
