The UAW endorsed Biden — and panned Republican frontrunner Trump as a 'scab'

The United Auto Workers endorsed President Biden's reelection campaign on Wednesday in a fiery speech from its president, Shawn Fain. Fain said Biden had earned the nod with his pro-union policies and went on to excoriate former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the Republican race, for his past actions and statements.

Fain showed a highlight reel of Biden walking the picket line outside a General Motors facility in Wayne, Mich., the first time in modern history that a sitting president had done that.

He contrasted Biden's actions with what Trump did during a 40-day strike in 2019, displaying a blank slide to the ballroom of cheering union members. "He said nothing, he did nothing, not a damn thing, because he doesn't care about the American worker," Fain said.

"Donald Trump is a scab," Fain said. "Donald Trump stands against everything we stand for as a union, as a society."

"So that's a choice we face. It's not about who you like, it's not about your party. It's not this bulls*** about age. It's not about anything but our best shot at taking back power for the working class," he said.

Last year's strike was a tipping point

In the 2016 election, Trump won Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, in part with a message to workers hurt by free trade agreements.

But Biden won those key states in 2020, in part because he made gains among white working class voters — and won a majority of union households. It's a strategy his campaign is seeking to repeat this year, which makes the UAW endorsement key.

While other major U.S. unions were quick to endorse his campaign last year, the UAW — which represents nearly 400,000 members — held back. Fain said that the union's endorsements were "going to be earned and not freely