Jerry Sykes: Biden endorsement 'is exactly what our union should have done.'

By BERRY CRAIG

Alliance for Retired Americans

Endorsing President Biden for reelection "is exactly what our union should have done," said United Auto Workers retiree Jerry Sykes. 

"But we've got to get out and start working for him whenever we can and do whatever we can do to get him reelected," said Sykes, an 81-year-old Marshall County resident who joined the union in 1964 at the Dodge truck plant in Warren, Mich. "Over all the years that he was a senator, vice president and now president, he has always been in favor of labor.  

"We don't want to go through another four years of what happened before Joe Biden was president. Donald Trump wasn't good for our union or our country. President Biden knows the importance of labor to our country. He's stood with us in the good times and he's always been with us in the bad times."

UAW President Shawn Fain announced the union's endorsement on Wednesday at the union's annual Community Action Program Conference in Washington. D.C. A group of Kentuckians attended.

Biden followed Fain to the mic and thanked the union.

Fain said Biden had earned the UAW nod. The choice "for the united working class" was clear, according to the union president: "Joe Biden bet on the American worker while Donald Trump blamed the American worker."  

Fain, who doesn't pull punches, said Trump "doesn't care about the American worker." He called Trump as "a scab," adding "Donald Trump is a billionaire and that’s who he represents." 

Fain poured it on:  

"If Donald Trump ever worked in an auto plant, he wouldn’t be a UAW member, He’d be a company man trying to squeeze the American worker. Donald Trump stands against everything we stand for as a union, as a society. When you go back to our core issues: wages, retirement, health care and our time, that’s what this election’s about."

Fain drew a clear distinction between how Biden and Trump responded to the UAW's Stand Up Strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis that ultimately netted the union one of its best contracts in decades. Biden "joined us in solidarity on the picket line" while Trump "went to a non-union plant invited by the boss and trashed our union," Fain said.

Biden is evidently the first president ever to visit a picket line.

Trump's preference for the nonunion company "shows exactly what his thoughts are about unions," Sykes said. "He showed his true colors that day. But we've always known that he was never a supporter of unions. He's always been for the big companies."

Sykes, who worked for Chrysler -- now Stellantis--for more than 31 years, said that in a way, he's glad Trump opted for the nonunion facility "because everybody could see what he did. You don't have to tell people he's anti-union, you can see it for yourself."

He said any union man or woman who votes for Trump is "not only damaging their future, they're damaging the future for their families and the future of America. Why in the world anybody want to vote for him?

"We don't want a dictator in this country. We don't want a president like Trump who would 'crucify' people because he doesn't like them or because they won't bow down and kiss his ring."

Sykes, who's been paying UAW dues for 58 years, said Trump isn't just running for president. "He's running to stay out of jail."

He invited union members "to pay attention to what he says. That should convince you right there that you don't want to vote for him."