Supercreator Daily: Strike out
Auto workers began picketing against the Big Three automakers. Plus: Vice President Harris kicks off her college tour and Hakeem Jeffries explains why you should never count New Yorkers out.
FIRST THINGS FIRST • UAW goes on strike ➟ The United Auto Workers union announced a targeted strike at midnight against the Big Three automakers—Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis—the first in its almost 90-year history.
Workers began picketing at a GM plant in Missouri, a Ford factory in Michigan, and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Ohio.
In addition to higher wages, the union is demanding cost-of-living raises, equal pay for factory jobs, a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay, better retirement benefits, and more.
The economic fallout from an extended strike could be devastating: The auto industry supports almost 10 million American jobs or about five percent of private-sector employment. The automakers could face a shortage of vehicles, driving up the price for consumers.
The political downside could be just as awful for President JOE BIDEN, who has fashioned himself as the most pro-union president in US history. But he is overseeing a fragile economic recovery that could collapse from the slightest agitation. A misstep that costs him the autoworker union’s endorsement could imperil his pro-worker reputation.
Biden spoke with UAW President SHAWN FAIN and leaders of the major auto companies to discuss the status of the negotiations ahead of the strike.
Then there’s the campaign: Biden’s path to victory in 2024 requires the blue wall Democratic that voters resolidified in 2020 in midwestern states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Congressional Democrats were vocal in their solidarity with the workers in the hours ahead of the strike.
“The industry is at a crossroads and its future is at stake. The auto workers were the ones who gave when this industry was in trouble over a decade ago,” Rep. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-Mich.) said in a statement after the strike was announced at midnight. “They deserve a decent wage and benefits and need to be reassured that as the industry undergoes transition, their livelihoods are safe, and they won’t be left behind.”
SHERROD BROWN, the senior senator from Ohio and one of three Senate Democrats up for reelection next year in a state former President DONALD TRUMP won in 2020 gave an impassioned floor speech on behalf of the workers.
“Autoworkers want to be on the job, not the picket line,” he said. “But when companies refuse to recognize the work they do, workers are backed into a corner. This is why a union card matters.”
House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) was also unequivocal in his support for the auto workers.
“Here in America, everyone who works hard, like the UAW workers do each and every day, deserves to be able to earn a comfortable living for themselves and for their families, to educate their children, to purchase a home, and to one day be able to retire with grace and with dignity,” he told reporters on Thursday. “And it's my strong hope that any contract resolution that is reached affirms that basic principle, which is connected to the American middle-class dream.”
The UAW strike comes as Hollywood writers and actors are on a months-long strike as they seek higher wages and fairer residuals when their projects are offered on streaming services among other demands.
Another catastrophic strike was averted in July when Teamsters announced it reached an agreement with UPS on a new five-year contract that included $30 billion in new money and secured several worker wins for full- and part-time employees alike.
👋🏾HI, HEY, HELLO! Good Friday morning. It’s September 15, 2023. You’re reading Supercreator Daily, the definitive guide to the politicians, power brokers, and policies shaping the American creator experience. Lawmakers went home for the weekend still nowhere closer to finding the government than they were to start the week. We’re 15 days away from a shutdown. Get in touch: michael@supercreator.news.
HARRIS KICKS OFF COLLEGE TOUR ➟ Vice President KAMALA HARRIS kicked off her month-long college tour at Hampton University, an HBCU in Virginia.
Harris told moderator TERRENCE J one of the reasons she’s on the tour is to highlight young leaders and the issues they are leading on and that concern them.
“One of the reasons that I’m on this tour is that I want to emphasize, based on your point, that voting is like putting in your order. You vote saying, ‘These are the things I want from my government, I want from my country, I want for my life and my future,’” Harris said. “And what concerns me sometimes is that our young leaders will be told that their vote doesn’t matter. They will be told by just the forces that, ‘Oh, they’re unlikely to vote.’ And I know that’s not true.”
The tour stop followed another week of unflattering national press for Harris, punctuated by two white columnists who argued President Biden drop her from his reelection ticket, an outcome they won’t happen. Former Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Rep. JAMIE RASKIN (D-Md.) also gave weak responses to CNN this week if Harris is the best running mate for President Biden.
But Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, told reporters Harris has proven herself to be up to the task on key issues that animate the party’s base:
“She’s done a phenomenal job as vice president, particularly when it comes to leaning into our values as Democrats with respect to a woman’s freedom to make our own reproductive health care decisions.
“Vice President Harris has made clear that we’re going to continue to build an economy that works for everyday Americans and we’re going to do that together.
“Vice President Harris has made clear that we believe in truth and reconciliation as opposed to some of the extremists on the other side of the aisle who want to erase African-American history.”
Voters of Tomorrow, a leading Gen-Z organization, echoed a similar sentiment.
“Gen Z is feeling the Kamalove as we head into 2024,” the group said in a statement. “The effort that President Biden and Vice President Harris are putting into delivering for us is unmatched by any previous administration—and Gen Z is taking note.”
Ultimately, the event proved that as with most political storylines, some of the Beltway punditry is mismatched with what’s happening on the ground.
There were more students who wanted to attend the event than could. Harris stopped by an overflow area outside the auditorium to show them some love.
“You are everything in terms of who we are as a country and who we can and will be,” Harris told the students. “I’m counting on your leadership.”
The tour is the administration’s latest attempt to mobilize young people around issues such as abortion rights, voting rights, student debt relief, climate justice, affordable housing and health care, and gun safety.
Over the course of the month, Harris will visit around a dozen campuses in at least seven states including visits to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, community colleges, apprenticeship programs, and state schools.
Vice President Harris will visit North Carolina A&T University this afternoon on her second tour stop.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD RESUMES ABORTIONS IN WISCONSIN ➟ Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will resume abortion care services starting next Monday after a state court recently decided to allow a lawsuit challenging an 1849 abortion ban to move forward.
Abortion services had been suspended at the local health center since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“The ability to provide abortion services in Wisconsin again is crucial to being able to address the full scope of care for our patients,” said Dr. ALLIE LINTON, Associate Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “Patients who walk through our doors can again know they will receive the comprehensive, high quality, nonjudgmental, and confidential reproductive care they deserve.”
Bans have eliminated all or some abortions in 22 states, according to data from Planned Parenthood Action Fund. The Guttmacher Institute this week launched a new research initiative that found abortions increases in protective states and in states that bordered others with post-Roe bans.
“The post-Dobbs era has dramatically altered the abortion landscape in the United States, and all of us committed to protect access must do more to understand the real impact of abortion bans and restrictions,” says Dr. HERMINA PALACIO, president and CEO of Guttmacher. “Sadly, initial findings confirm a hierarchy of access to clinical care, based upon where a person lives and whether they have the resources to overcome geographical barriers.”
The next release of Guttmacher state abortion estimates will include the first data on the impact of North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban, which went into effect in July. This release will also show data on interstate travel for abortion care.
TODAY ON CAPITOL HILL
➟ The House is out.
➟ The Senate is out.
TODAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE
➟ President Biden will receive his daily briefing at 11:45 a.m. He will leave the White House at 6:25 p.m. to travel to Wilmington, Delaware for the weekend, where he will arrive at 7:20 p.m.
➟ Vice President Harris will leave Washington, DC at 12:05 p.m. and arrive in Greensboro, North Carolina at 1:05 p.m. for the second stop of her month-long college tour at North Carolina A&T at 2:30 p.m. Harris will leave Greensboro at 4:55 p.m. and arrive back
in Washington at 5:55 p.m.
➟ First Lady Dr. JILL BIDEN will visit Emory University in Atlanta at 10 a.m. to highlight the launch of the first project funded through a federal agency that aims to use mRNA technology to train immune systems to fight cancer and other diseases more effectively. Dr. Biden will then speak at the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at 11:45 a.m. to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month.
➟ Second Gentleman DOUG EMHOFF will visit two Latino-owned small businesses—Cuts By Hugo at 11:15 a.m. and El Tamarindo at 12 p.m.—with Small Business Administrator ISABELLA CASILLAS GUZMAN to mark Hispanic Heritage Month.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
“The cost of straight hair” by Angelina Chapin: “The products Black women rely on to give their locks body and shine are now alleged to give them cancer too.”
“We are not just polarized. We are traumatized.” by Ana Marie Cox: “The pandemic. The mass shootings. Insurrection. Trump. We’ve been through so much. What if our entire national character is a trauma response?”
“The pandemic skip” by Katy Schneider: “By now, many of us have fully resumed our post-COVID lives. But what about all the years we missed?”
“Why the most important doctors are the least well paid” by Nathan Kohrman: “And how the US government could fix it.”
“What happened to the family doctor?” by Dylan Scott: “Primary care is the foundation of American medicine—and it’s withering.”
“We need to talk about roadkill” by Jackie Flynn Mogensen: It's the environmental problem no one is paying attention to, argues Ben Goldfarb in his new book ‘Crossings.’”
“To save your favorite restaurant, destroy tipping culture” Elena Soderblom: “The archaic practice is standing in the way of across-the-board reforms that are necessary to end the exploitation of the industry’s workforce.
“‘I pay my college tuition by making TikToks’” by Andrea González-Ramirez
“TikTok’s shopping push left my For You page in shambles” by A.W. Ohlheiser: “The new Shop feature appears to be transforming the entire app experience.”
LAST BUT NOT LEAST ➟ Jeffries’ New York state of mind
Tens of thousands of migrants have arrived in New York City over the last year stressing the city’s shelter system and putting federal, state, and local officials at policy odds.
Mayor ERIC ADAMS has sharpened his rhetoric on the issue in recent weeks, calling the situation a humanitarian crisis that will cost the city $12 billion over the next three years.
When asked if New York City will be able to manage the situation, Leader Jeffries said the Big Apple is always about to meet the moment before transitioning into one of his signature monologues—this one a recitation of historic events when people counted New Yorkers out. See the moment for yourself:
Reps. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT and ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, two members of New York’s congressional delegation, will lead members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on a trip to New York City this morning to discuss the city’s response to new arrivals and explore effective federal solutions.
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