Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participated in a socially distant conversation with Detroit steelworkers while visiting Michigan.
Biden made several stops throughout the state Wednesday, his first visit to Michigan since March, including a speech at a United Auto Workers hall in Warren and a brief visit to a Detroit clothing store. Biden joined union steelworkers at a home in Detroit for an outdoor conversation about his plan to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
“You guys have been with me from the time I ran for office the first time, I think I’ve been with you all those years too,” Biden said to open the conversation. “So I want to know is: What’s going on? What’s on your mind?”
Andrea Hunter, president of United Steelworkers Local 1299, highlighted the planned idling of the U.S. Steel Corporation’s Great Lakes Works facility in River Rouge. She said between the layoffs, COVID-19 pandemic and issues with securing benefits from the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, workers are worried about providing for their families.
“I get photographs of empty refrigerators telling me they can’t feed their kids,” Hunter said. “These are people who are hard workers ... This whole thing is causing my people such duress."
Michael Miller worked at USS Great Lakes for his entire adult life but was laid off in April. Miller is old enough to retire, but he expressed concern about younger workers who need will likely need to find employment in another industry.
The USS Great Lakes closure was expected to cause 1,500 people to lose their jobs when it was announced late last year.
Miller also expressed concerns about President Donald Trump’s stewardship of Social Security and Medicaid. Miller said he doesn’t trust Trump has a plan to protect middle-class jobs.
“I’m at the end of my career and I’m looking forward to Social Security that we paid into,” Miller said. “We’ve earned those rights. You cannot take what is not yours. for some reason, they think they can ... We need people like you to take Michigan back. I want my country back."
Tim Petrowski is president of USW Local 1900 and an employee at MST Seamless Tube and Pipe in South Lyon. He said employment at the plant dropped from 250 employees to 140 employees in the last year.
“The promise of building manufacturing jobs in Michigan just hasn’t happened here,” Petrowski said. “If you can find a job, it’s $12 an hour. For people that have been working 20-30 years, working hard, in a steel mill they’ve earned the right to a union wage. What I believe you can bring to Michigan Joe, is good-paying union jobs.”
Biden said American workers are at a disadvantage due to tax cuts included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Biden said the cuts reward corporations to move offshore through a loophole that allows U.S. companies to dodge taxes.
During a speech in Warren, Biden outlined his plan to bring American manufacturing jobs through a combination of tax hikes on companies that move jobs overseas and tax incentives for businesses that make investments in domestic job growth.
“What I’m going to change is make sure that anybody who offshores anything will pay a 10% surcharge to anything they bring back in,” Biden said. “Conversely, if someone is going to open up a steel mill ... what happens is you get a 10% (tax) credit.”
Biden said cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% was a step too far. The former vice president said moving the corporate tax rate back to 28% would raise $1.3 trillion.
“These corporations aren’t hiring more people, you know what they’re doing with the tax credit they’ve got?” Biden said. “They’re buying back their stock, their CEOs are getting raises and they think their only obligation is to their stockholders. What about the people who work there?”
Biden said companies need to pay their “fair share." The funds raised from tax hikes on corporations could help schools struggling to purchase sanitation equipment needed to reopen safely.
“It just drives me crazy that the country is going to hell and a handbasket economically. and politically and in terms of our health and we’re doing nothing about it,” Biden said. “There’s answers to these things.”
Biden said Trump is fearmongering about Black Lives Matter protests to distract the public.
“Look, violence is violence,” Biden said. “Anybody who torches a car, smashes windows, breaks into a store -- I don’t care who they are -- it’s illegal. It’s wrong. They should be arrested. But notice this guy, all he does is pour fuel on the flames.”
The United Steelworkers union endorsed Biden May. United Steelworkers International President Tom Conway also issued a statement Wednesday before Biden’s visit expressing support of his candidacy.
“American workers need leaders who understand that our economy cannot survive if we continue to ship manufacturing and other jobs overseas,” Conway said. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s vision to protect and create jobs through a combination of tax incentives, infrastructure investment with strong Buy American provisions, and attention to domestic supply chains offers common-sense solutions and a clear path to success.”
READ MORE ON MLIVE:
Biden says Trump failed to bring back Michigan jobs and tanked economy with COVID response
Joe Biden says Trump betrayed Americans by downplaying threat of COVID-19
In Michigan, Joe Biden to propose taxing companies that move jobs overseas
Michigan Trump surrogates highlight USMCA at event for farmers and ranchers
Trump and Biden back-to-back visits show Michigan is still a 2020 battleground