Calling former President Donald Trump “one of the biggest losers” in the history of American manufacturing, Vice President Kamala Harris is focusing her campaign on a key difference between the two presidential candidates — their relationship to workers.

Trump is scheduled to appear at a town hall in Warren, Michigan on Friday. Automaker Stellantis is planning to layoff hundreds of temporary workers at assembly plants in Sterling Heights, Detroit, and Toledo early next week.

In a statement shared to WDET, Vice President Harris highlighted her opposition to the United State-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — something Trump has dubbed “the new NAFTA.”

“It was Trump’s trade deal that made it far too easy for a major auto company like Stellantis to break their word to workers by outsourcing American jobs,” Harris says in the statement.

Stellantis has denied it is planning to move any jobs out of the country — despite accusations by the United Auto Workers that the company wants to move production of the Dodge Durango to Windsor, Ontario.

Harris has received the support of most of the major labor unions — including the UAW.

United Autoworkers President Shawn Fain has called Trump a “scab” after the former president crossed picket lines and hosted a rally at a non-union auto parts manufacturer in Macomb County during last year’s UAW strike.

The union has even gone so far to file unfair labor practice charges against Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk after the pair discussed firing striking workers. 

Trump has been confident he’ll get the backing of autoworkers telling rallygoers in Michigan earlier this year “most of the autoworkers are going to vote for me.”  

Manufacturing jobs in the US were trending downward in the year before the pandemic started. Harris says the Trump Administration lost “nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs.” 

She’s pledged to continue post-pandemic job gains made during the Biden Administration. 

“I will always stand with the UAW. Trusting Donald Trump again is a risk America’s autoworkers cannot afford,” says Harris.

• The full statement from Vice President Harris is below.

“Donald Trump is one of the biggest losers of manufacturing in American history. He makes empty promise after empty promise to American workers, but never delivers. As President, he cut taxes for corporations, encouraged outsourcing, and lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs, including auto jobs. He has joked about firing workers, supported state anti-union laws, and suggested companies move jobs out of Michigan. 

“We’ve seen this movie before. Once again, he is repeating the same playbook and telling the same old lies about how he’ll fight for working people, including those in Michigan. Yet it was Trump’s trade deal that made it far too easy for a major auto company like Stellantis to break their word to workers by outsourcing American jobs. As one of only 10 senators to vote against USMCA, I knew it was not sufficient to protect our country and its workers. Many who voted for this deal conditioned their support on a review process, which as President I will use.

“Enough is enough. American workers deserve a leader who keeps their promises and stands with workers when it matters, and as President, I will bring autoworker jobs back to this country and create an opportunity economy that strengthens manufacturing, unions, and builds prosperity and security for America’s future. I will always stand with the UAW. Trusting Donald Trump again is a risk America’s autoworkers cannot afford.”

The United Auto Workers plans to hold strike authorization votes at as many as 28 Stellantis local chapters in the next couple weeks.

Stellantis has rolled back a planned restart of production at a Jeep factory in Belvidere, Illinois. The commitment — which the union said it won in last year’s contract — was also supposed to include an auto parts hub and a new battery plant.

The UAW has also filed unfair labor practice charges against the automaker with the National Labor Relations Board.

The union says Stellantis has failed to keep workers updated on changes to product commitments. That includes shifting production of the Dodge Durango SUV from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario.

UAW workers launched a strike against all three automakers for six weeks during contract negotiations.

Union President Shawn Fain says automakers will be held accountable for violations of that contract.

““This is about enforcing a contract for all of us, we all sacrifice something to win these product and investment commitments,” Fain said in a video to members on Tuesday.

“We all — every plant — are at risk if the company can violate these agreements.”

In a statement, Stellantis says it doesn’t believe it has violated any part of the agreement.

“The commitments we made during 2023 negotiations span the life of the four-year, 7.5-month agreement, so it is not surprising that they haven’t been fully realized in the first year. And to be clear, Shawn Fain’s claim that the company has confirmed plans for the Dodge Durango is simply not true.”

The conflict with the UAW comes at a tumultuous time for the automaker, which builds Jeeps, Ram pickups, Chryslers and others.

Last week, the Stellantis National Dealer Council sent an open letter to CEO Carlos Tavares criticizing the automaker for degradation of the company’s brands.

After record profits last year, sales in 2024 have been sluggish. Though the automaker took “exception” to the letter and says sales improved over the summer.

The Dealer Council and the UAW agree there are issues with Stellantis leadership.

“We aren’t the problem. The market isn’t the problem. Carlos Tavares is the problem,” Fain said.

Read more: 

• Fain, UAW rally in Warren after Stellantis announces mass layoffs at truck plant
• Looking back at the automotive labor movement in 2023
• UAW continues organizing efforts at non-union factories in the South

Local 283 President Steve Hicks says they are asking for union security, seniority rights and an increase in pay.

“Since the pandemic, inflation is sky high from 2019 in double digits, and has cut into the spendable income of our members here,” Hicks told WDET. “So we need to get [a] percentage that’s a lot higher than what they are offering, which is 3% per year.”

Hicks says the union sent several emails asking to bargain over the last offer made by Marathon, but were denied.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Marathon officials said they were “disappointed” that union members decided to go on strike, saying the company has met with union leadership regularly for the last nine months to reach a new labor agreement.

“The company has negotiated in good faith, but the union thus far has been unwilling to agree to acceptable terms for an agreement and, instead, has decided to engage in a strike in support of its bargaining positions,” the statement read. “We are fully prepared and have implemented plans to continue safely operating the facility with trained and qualified Marathon employees, and a safe and orderly handover to these experienced team members has been completed.”