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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
We end this Labor Day special with Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers. In August, he addressed the Democratic National Convention.
SHAWN FAIN: Good evening, America. And good evening to the people that make this world move: the working class. On behalf of 1 million active and retired members of the UAW, I am honored to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to be our next president and vice president. And I want to say thank you to Joe Biden for making history by walking the picket line with the UAW.
For the UAW and for working-class people everywhere, this election comes down to one question: Which side are you on? On one side, we have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who have stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class. On the other side, we have Trump and Vance, two lapdogs for the billionaire class who only serve themselves. So, for us in the labor movement, it’s real simple. Kamala Harris is one of us. She’s a fighter for the working class. And Donald Trump is a scab!
AUDIENCE: Trump’s a scab! Trump’s a scab! Trump’s a scab! Trump’s a scab! Trump’s a scab! Trump’s a scab!
SHAWN FAIN: That’s not just my opinion. That’s a fact. All we have to do is look at the track record. When Donald Trump was president, corporate America ran wild. Donald Trump did not bring back the auto industry. When Donald Trump was president, auto plants closed. Trump did nothing. Trump told workers in Lordstown, Ohio, that he would be bringing all the auto jobs back, and Trump did nothing. In 2019, General Motor workers went on strike for 40 days for good jobs and a better life. And Trump did nothing. Talk is cheap.
But in 2019, you know who was on the picket line standing shoulder to shoulder with autoworkers? I’ll give you a clue: Her initials are Kamala Harris. In 2023, who helped bring jobs back to Lordstown, Ohio? Kamala Harris. And in 2024, who will stand with the working class in our fight for justice? Kamala Harris. And that’s the difference. Donald Trump is all talk, and Kamala Harris walks the walk.
Woo! In the words of the great American poet Nelly, “It’s getting hot in here.” It’s hot in here. It’s hot in here because you’re fired up and you’re fed up, and the American working class if fired up and fed up.
The American working class is in a fight for our lives. And if you don’t believe me, just last night, blue-collar workers, the UAW members at Cornell University, had to walk out on strike for a better life because they’re fighting corporate greed. And our only hope is to attack corporate greed head-on. Corporate greed turns blue-collar blood, sweat and tears into Wall Street stock buybacks and CEO jackpots. It causes inflation. It hurts workers. It hurts consumers. And it hurts America.
And corporate greed is alive and well in the auto industry. You know, last fall, we achieved life-changing gains in our strike at the Big Three. We even won a commitment to reopen a closed plant not too far from here. We were able to do that, thanks to the support of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and the thousands of autoworkers that went on strike. But a year later, one company wants to go back on their commitments in our contract. And let me be clear: Stellantis must keep the promises they made to America in our union contract. And the UAW will take whatever action necessary, at Stellantis or any other corporation, to stand up and hold corporate America accountable.
And when the UAW stands up, we know who stands with us and who stands against us. Donald Trump laughs about firing workers who go on strike. And Kamala Harris stands shoulder to shoulder with workers when they’re on strike. And that’s the difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump the scab.
Trump is pushing divide-and-conquer tactics of the rich. It’s the oldest trick in the book. They want to blame the frustrations of the working-class people — they want to take those frustrations, they want to blame it on race. They want to blame it on LGBTQ+ people. They want to blame it on some destitute and desperate person at the border. They do that because they want working-class people to be divided and to focus and keep the focus off the one true enemy: corporate greed. The rich think we’re stupid. But working-class Americans see this for what it is. This is our generation’s defining moment.
So, I have a question for you: Are you ready to stand up, speak up and show up and put Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the White House? We need a defender of the working class in the White House, someone who is one of us and someone who knows how to fight. And that fighter is the next president of the United States, Kamala Harris! Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
And that does it for this Labor Day special. Democracy Now! is produced with Mike Burke, Renée Feltz, Deena Guzder, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Hana Elias. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira, Hugh Gran, Denis Moynihan, David Prude, Dennis McCormick, Matt Ealy, Anna Özbek, Emily Andersen and Buffy Saint Marie Hernandez. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.
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