President Joe Biden hosted Shawn Fain, the president of United Auto Workers, for a previously unscheduled meeting at the White House Wednesday, just weeks before the union could potentially strike against the “Big Three” car manufacturers.
UAW, which endorsed Biden’s 2020 campaign, has notably withheld its endorsement of his reelection effort over concerns about his handling of the nation’s electric vehicle transition.
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A UAW spokesperson told Politico that Fain asked for Biden’s public support ahead of the strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis. Fain also reportedly asked the president to put stricter labor regulations into electric vehicle incentive programs stood up by Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
A White House official additionally said that only senior administration officials were previously scheduled to attend the meeting with Fain, which UAW requested. However, once he heard about the meeting, Biden himself asked to meet with Fain.
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The meeting also comes as Julie Su, Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Labor, is facing a confirmation roadblock in the Senate.
Biden has billed himself as the most “pro-union president” in U.S. history, and his administration has stepped in to help broker a number of labor agreements during his time in office, including one with dock workers at the Port of Los Angeles that helped unsnarl major supply chain bottlenecks during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
