UAW slams Trump-Vance as 'menace to the working class'

The United Auto Workers this week reiterated its warning that the Republican presidential ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance is a threat to working-class Americans in response to a refusal by Vance to commit to honoring a $500 million federal grant for an electric vehicle plant in Michigan.

Both Trump and Vance—a venture capitalist turned U.S. senator from Ohio who often postures as a working-class ally—are campaigning in Michigan, a key swing state, this week.

The Detroit Newsreported Wednesday that on the campaign trail, Vance was "noncommittal" about the promised funding, part of $1.7 billion distributed by the Biden administration. The $500 million grant would help General Motors convert its Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant into an EV facility.

The UAW, one of several labor unions that have endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, fired back Thursday, echoing its previous criticism of Trump and Vance.

"Donald Trump was the job-killer-in-chief while in the White House," the powerful union said in a statement. "His failed United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement—or Trump's NAFTA as we prefer to call it—has led to the mass exodus of good, blue-collar jobs from the United States. In sharp contrast, the Biden-Harris administration has bet on the American worker and thanks to their policies, hundreds of thousands of good manufacturing jobs are returning to the United States."

"Now, Trump and JD Vance are invading Michigan and threatening the $500 million investment the Biden-Harris administration made in the General Motors Grand River Assembly Plant and the union jobs that investment would provide," the UAW continued. "The bottom line is that Donald Trump and JD Vance are a menace to the working class and are openly threatening to double down on Trump's legacy of job destruction."

In a potential boost to Democrats ahead of November 5, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that in September federal unemployment hit 4.1% and the U.S. economy added 254,000 jobs, over 100,000 more than economists projected.

UAW president Shawn Fain, who led a major strike against Big Three auto companies last year, is set to join U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for weekend events in Michigan to support Harris. The pair plans to visit Warren, Grand Rapids, and East Lansing to discuss "the American healthcare system, the fight against corporate greed, and shoring up Michigan's manufacturing future."

Harris was in Michigan on Friday for events in Detroit and Flint, where she was set to "meet with leaders from the Arab American community," according toReuters. "Meeting participants include leaders from the Muslim advocacy group Emgage, which recently endorsed Harris, the American Task Force on Lebanon, and a long-standing friend of Harris, Hala Hijazi, who has lost dozens of family members in Gaza."

"Other such as Jim Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee, said he declined the invitation," Reuters reported. "Leaders from the Uncommitted National Movement protest campaign said they have not been invited to the meeting."