Harris, Walz campaign at UAW hall near Ford plant, vow fairness, warn of 2nd Trump term

A day after firing up a boisterous crowd at a Detroit Metro Airport hangar, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, rallied UAW members at a union hall described as ground zero for last year’s auto strike against the Detroit Three and the subsequent contract ratification.

They preached a message of unity and highlighted their connections to union members and the union movement.

The rally Thursday afternoon at UAW Local 900 in Wayne allowed the pair to focus their message on a union crowd made up of UAW members who had walked the picket line outside Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant on the other side of Michigan Avenue, among other sites. Michigan is a key battleground state in this year’s presidential race between Harris, the Democratic nominee, and her Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump. The union vote, powered by a recent UAW endorsement of Harris, could prove significant for the outcome.

The Detroit-area stops for the Democratic ticket were expected to be followed by visits to Arizona and Nevada, two other important states in this presidential contest. The more intimate union hall setting, with a limited number of people in a cooler space, avoided the medical issues experienced by some attendees of the Wednesday event at the airport.

Harris touts 'noble concept behind collective bargaining'

Speeches by UAW President Shawn Fain, Walz and finally Harris emphasized the connections between the Democratic standard bearers and working class men and women. And they painted Trump as someone who only cares about himself, in contrast to the Democrats, who, they said, are focused on service.

Harris said the “true measure” of a leader’s strength isn’t by who you beat down, but by who you bring up.“It’s about the collective,” she said, “No one should ever be made to fight alone.”

And she pointed to her understanding of the “noble concept behind collective bargaining.” In a negotiation, the outcome should be fair, she said.

“We’re saying we just want fairness, we want dignity for all people,” Harris said, also noting that the United States is a work in progress worth fighting for.

“We love our country. We believe in our country. We believe in each other. We believe in the collective. We’re not falling for these folks who are trying to divide us, trying to separate us, trying to pull us apart.”

Walz warns of consequences of a second Trump term

Walz noted the short time before Election Day, with “89 days to make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States.”

“She stands on the side of the American people and the American worker,” Walz said, noting that she’s the one that stands up against the billionaires and corporate greed.

And he urged the union members to action.

“This is a bit of preaching to the choir, but the choir needs to sing right now,” he said, warning of what would happen if Trump wins.

“This time it will be far, far worse and (he’ll) make sure we can’t organize collectively to improve our lives,” he said.

Fain, in his introduction, talked up Harris and Walz’s support for unions, saying they have working-class roots.

Fain: 'This is a which-side-are-you-on moment'

“What’s at stake in this election? … Everything is at stake. It’s about … whether we continue forward or whether we go back,” said Fain, who has frequently highlighted his disdain for Trump. Trump in turn has called for Fain’s firing.

The messages resonated with members of the crowd, who answered with chants of “We’re not going back” and waved blue signs with the UAW logo and “vote 2024.”

Fain said “this is a which-side-are-you-on moment” and said Harris and Walz are “one of us.”

In highlighting Harris’ support for workers, Fain pointed to 2019 when she walked a picket with workers on strike against General Motors.

Trump's line of attack

But Trump has also encouraged workers to support him, and it's likely he will have at least some support among union members. A statement from his campaign following the UAW endorsement of Harris also sought to portray the vice president as supporting policies that would hurt workers and played to concerns from some autoworkers about electric vehicles.

"Union workers and all the nation's working families are paying the price for dangerously liberal Kamala Harris' failed economic policies. Kamala Harris' radical electric vehicle mandate will destroy the livelihoods of countless U.S. autoworkers while sending the U.S. auto industry to China," according to the statement. Although the Biden administration doesn't have a formal EV mandate, the administration's policies have been supportive of EV adoption.

UAW workers' views

Dwayne Walker, president of Local 900, which represents the bulk of the almost 6,000 auto workers at the plant that produces the Ford Bronco and Ranger, noted the significance of the location in a conversation before the rally.

“We are battle-tested, that’s for sure,” he said, noting that it looks like we have a “battle here.” in reference to the presidential race.

Asked how his membership has been feeling, he said the union has its “naysayers,” but “they know we rise and fall together.”

Members, however, were excited, he said, by the change at the top of the Democratic ticket, when President Joe Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris.

“That’s an opportunity for them. You have a chance to have a lady at the top of this ticket,” he said, noting that he grew up with strong women in his life.

More:Fain: UAW members 'won back our dignity' in strike against Ford, GM, Stellantis

The enthusiasm was evident among the invited guests at the hall, which notes a maximum capacity of 368 but was set up to allow for several rows of seats and a large area for journalists in the back of the room.

Shauna Lewis, 49, of Ypsilanti, a skilled trades toolmaker at the plant and a trustee on the local’s executive board, called it a great honor to have Harris at her local. She said she was pleased by the switch “so we can move forward and keep Trump out of office.”

It’s a good look, having a Black woman at the top of the ticket, Lewis said, noting that she had been a bit worried about President Biden’s health previously.

“They made a great move now,” she said, describing her top issues as health care, especially for retirees, Medicaid and Medicare, and college tuition expenses.

Renea Forrest , 57, of Clawson, is a registered nurse at the plant as a member of UAW Local 600. During the strike, she noted that she and other nurses staffed a medical table at the Local 900 hall.

Forrest said she’d been in a “funk and in a depression” before Biden dropped out the race, but is now feeling “rejuvenated.” She’d been hoping that he would and said he stepped aside for the good of the country.

“God, bless him,” she said.

Forrest called the selection of Walz “very cool” because he’s a union man, related to his time as a high school teacher.

But Forrest said she’s thrilled by Harris, who she said has a “basis in law and order” and won’t undercut women’s rights.

“She’s not going to take us back,” she said, noting that Harris wouldn’t “shift us back to the 1920s.”

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.