President Joe Biden’s visit to Michigan Tuesday amid the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike lays bare the ongoing fight between two reliable factions of the Democratic Party. This squabble has long-lasting implications that extend beyond current events, and every would-be Democratic standard bearer is caught betwixt and between with no easy way out.
At loggerheads are the unions and the greens. At first glance, the UAW demands resemble a typical union strike: higher pay (a 40% increase) in exchange for fewer hours (a 32-hour work week) and better benefits. These asks may seem exorbitant for those whose wages have been outpaced by Biden-fueled inflation. Or as one Washington Post columnist put it, "too big a slice of a soon-to-shrink pie."
The UAW fault lines go deeper than the old guard "workers versus executive" dispute. Underlying everything is the forced transition to electric vehicles handed down by Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other governors beholden to the green lobby. A government mandate of EVs is disrupting the flow of car makers’ manufacturing.