Democrats hitting UAW picket lines; no surprise, Republicans aren't

By BERRY CRAIG

AFT Local 1360

"Which side are you on?" is one of the best known union songs.

The UAW strike at GM is more proof--as if it were needed--that Democrats are a whole lot more likely to side with unions than Republicans are.    

The top two Democratic presidential contenders (based on the polls) were with strikers Sunday.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined UAW pickets in Detroit; former Vice President Joe Biden was with strikers in Kansas City, Kans. Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to join strikers in Detroit in a few days.

Two more contenders -- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan--have visited with strikers, the former in Detroit, the latter in Lordstown, Ohio, where GM ended production earlier this year. 

Nearly every Democratic presidential hopeful has tweeted his or her support for the UAW. President Trump has not.

Trump has gone nowhere near a UAW picket line, one of which is up at the Bowling Green Corvette plant. 

Bowling Green is in the second congressional district, Rep. Brett Guthrie's constituency. He's from Bowling Green; so is Sen. Rand Paul. Neither Republican has rubbed shoulders with striking UAW Local 2164 workers.

But on Monday, Ford workers from UAW Local 862 in Louisville are expected to board a bus for Bowling Green to show solidarity with Local 2164. Sen. Mitch McConnell is from Louisville, but he won't be on the bus.

“Let’s be clear, unions built America’s middle class and unions will rebuild America’s middle class," said Warren. “There’s only one reason we have a middle class, and it’s spelled ‘U-N-I-O-N,’” Biden said. Hogs will fly before Trump, Paul, McConnell, Guthrie and nearly every other Republican in Washington--and in Frankfort--say anything remotely like that. Time and again, they've shown whose side they're on. It's not ours.