Today, the UAW released a new video as part of its 2024 political program, highlighting how NAFTA and the USMCA trade deals were a betrayal—a giveaway to corporate greed, backed by politicians from both parties, with American workers ultimately paying the price. The video draws a sharp contrast between Trump’s support for damaging free trade deals and Kamala Harris’s efforts to bring the Democratic Party back to its roots, prioritizing working-class people.
The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage.
Narrated by UAW President Shawn Fain, the video outlines how NAFTA and the USMCA have devastated the working class, destroying the U.S. manufacturing base and sending good-paying jobs across the border.
“For 40 years, the American working class has been under attack,” narrates UAW President Shawn Fain. “Especially blue-collar manufacturing workers … In the 1990s, they went after what remained of our good manufacturing jobs. Republicans and some Democrats, including a Democratic President, passed NAFTA … An estimated 90,000 factories closed over the next 25 years due to NAFTA and similar trade deals. And corporate America, with friends in both parties, won again.”
In 2016, a segment of autoworkers reeling from the pain of manufacturing job loss turned their votes to Trump. As the working-class continues to feel the pain of surging costs of groceries and rents, UAW members recognize Trump is not the answer. As UAW President Fain says in the video: “He had his moment as President.”
“Both parties have been influenced by corporate America. And both parties have done harm to the working class. But with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, we’ve seen the tide starting to turn.
“Under Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party is getting back to its roots, where working class people come first. Where union members aren’t the enemy. And where corporate America doesn’t call all the shots. We need to keep that going, and we need to be loud and clear as working class people what we expect from our political leaders.”
This video is part of the UAW’s 2024 political campaign to mobilize UAW members and their families in support of endorsed, pro-worker candidates, using the same tools and tactics deployed during last year’s successful Stand Up Strike and in subsequent contract and new organizing victories in the South.
The video’s full transcript via President Shawn Fain is available below:
For 40 years, the American working class has been under attack. Especially blue-collar manufacturing workers. In the 1980s, corporate America went on the offensive against the labor movement, with the full backing of the Republican Party. They fired thousands of blue-collar workers, closed plants, and concentrated wealth at the very top. They said the wealth would trickle down to the working class. They lied. And yet that wasn’t enough for corporate America.
In the 1990s, they went after what remained of our good manufacturing jobs. Republicans and some Democrats, including a Democratic President, passed NAFTA. A third-party candidate at the time, Ross Perot, warned of the giant sucking sound of good jobs leaving this country. And he was right. NAFTA was wrong.
An estimated 90,000 factories closed over the next 25 years due to NAFTA and similar trade deals. And corporate America, with friends in both parties, won again. In the 2000’s Republican George W. Bush passed massive tax breaks for the wealthy. And when the recession hit, it was the working class that felt the pain.
Democrat Barack Obama stepped in and worked to save the auto industry. But auto workers, as always, took massive sacrifices in the process. All of that pain had to go somewhere. And for a lot of working-class people, it went to voting for Donald Trump. Trump pulled the oldest con job in the book. He said, I’m not like other Republicans. I’m not like other billionaires. I’m on your side.
Meanwhile, he did George W. Bush one better, and pulled off the biggest tax cut for the wealthy in history. Where 80% of Trump’s tax cuts went to the top 1%. He oversaw even more auto plant closures while doing nothing to help the American auto worker. He signed NAFTA 2.0, or the USMCA, which has increased the trade imbalance with Mexico and sent more good jobs out of our country.
So let me say it again. The working class is feeling a lot of pain. But Donald Trump, the billionaire, the con man, is not the answer. He had his moment as President.
Both parties have been influenced by corporate America. And both parties have done harm to the working class. But with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, we’ve seen the tide starting to turn.
After dealing with the pandemic, over the past three and a half years under the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS Act, we’ve seen more manufacturing investment in this country than at any point in my lifetime.
Under Kamala Harris the Democratic Party is getting back to its roots, where working class people come first. Where union members aren’t the enemy. And where corporate America doesn’t call all the shots. We need to keep that going, and we need to be loud and clear as working class people what we expect from our political leaders.
But we can’t get fooled or distracted by a con man like Donald Trump. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris. That’s why our union has endorsed Kamala Harris, and that’s why our country needs Kamala Harris as our next President.
UAW Supports Medicare for All
“INVEST IN US”: UAW Slams Stellantis for Preparing Massive Pay Day for Wall Street While Thousands of Workers are Laid Off in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Beyond
One Year Later: VW Workers Celebrate Historic Breakthrough and Look Ahead to Locked-In Gains in First Union Contract