Factory workers divided over Trump v Biden

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

It’s no surprise that today’s newsletter focuses on the upcoming U.S. election and its impact on environmental, social and governance issues following the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. 

We begin with a Reuters feature on the divide amongst union factory workers who are split between Trump and President Joe Biden.

We’ll unpack the current administration’s latest environmental policy on Alaskan drilling, alongside Trump’s top pick for vice president in today’s main Talking Points stories.

Finally, we dissect some of the things the Republicans aren’t likely to mention at their convention, and a few things the Democrats would prefer people ignore during theirs in today’s ESG Lens.

And a little shameless plug for another Reuters newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Be sure to subscribe here for your weekly news and analysis on the U.S. election and how it matters to the world.

Also on my radar today:

Workers at CNH Industrial’s tractor factory, Thomas Kloften, Josef Eisenbraun, and Abel Rodriguez, Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, U.S. REUTERS/Timothy Aeppel

For workers at CNH Industrial’s sprawling tractor plant just outside Racine, Wisconsin, debate over whether Biden or Trump would do more to save their jobs from getting packed off to Mexico has turned into “friendly warfare.”

CNH, a multinational heavy-vehicle maker based in the UK, has cut nearly one-third of the plant’s hourly jobs and told the union it wants to move many of the remaining jobs south of the border by 2027.

The United Auto Workers union endorsed Biden in January and its leaders point to his willingness to join workers on the picket line during a 2023 auto strike – a first for a sitting president –  as evidence that Biden is more likely to favor union workers in fights like this.

The UAW’s national leaders met last week to discuss their concerns about Biden’s ability to beat Trump, in the aftermath of the president’s poor debate performance last month.

Meanwhile, rank-and-file UAW members at CNH and elsewhere remain split over who to support, and CNH workers interviewed by Reuters in Racine said the rift is causing friction as the election approaches.

A visit to Racine – one of the birthplaces of the American farm machinery industry – underscores how tough it will be for Democrats to regain their dominance with industrial union workers.

The city was once dotted with factories and solidly Democratic. In the 1930s, it elected a socialist mayor, William J. Swoboda. “They called us Little Moscow,” said Gerald Karwowski, a retired CNH worker who developed a second career as a local historian.

In the 1970s, the company employed over 3,500 people in five factories around Racine.

As CHN went through a succession of new owners – Case is the “C” in CNH – and downsizing, Racine’s devotion to unions and Democrats waned.

Racine County voters favored Trump in 2020, 51% to 47%, continuing their drift to Republicans. In 2016, Trump received 48.1% to Hillary Clinton’s 43.9%, while in 2012, Democrat Barack Obama beat Republican Mitt Romney, 50.8% to 47.3%.

Josef Eisenbraun, a 44-year-old who builds axles, said the most ardent Trump supporters irritate him.

“I call them the hoot-and-hollerers, because they’re always hooting and hollering about this or that,” he said. Eisenbraun voted for Biden in 2020 and will probably do so again in November, but he’s far from enthusiastic.

“Biden is a bumbling fool – Trump is just a fool,” he said. “That’s why this election is really hard – vote for the guy falling over literally on stage or the one who divides the country.”

Abel Rodriguez, a 46-year-old computer-controlled machine operator, said he thinks the CNH job losses in Racine have dampened enthusiasm for either candidate as workers obsess about the fate of their own jobs.

CNH recently shed about 200 of the plant’s 660 union workers, according to the union, and has told the UAW that plans for outsourcing and moving jobs to Mexico will bring the number of Racine union positions down to 175 by 2027, saving $58 million a year. The actions followed a nine-month strike that ended in January 2023.

In a statement, CNH acknowledged it cut an unspecified number of jobs at the factory due to weak sales and that it plans to “redistribute certain manufacturing activities” to other CNH plants as well as third parties. 

Small boats returning to the harbor are seen before the upcoming harvests in Whittier, Alaska, U.S. REUTERS/Yereth Rosen

Owen Gaffney, co-lead of the Earth4All initiative, shares his thoughts on a recent survey of 20,000 people in G20 nations that found that 68% of respondents support a ‘tax the rich’ policy to address economic and environmental challenges:

“The message to politicians could not be clearer. The vast majority of people we surveyed in the world’s largest economies believe major immediate action is needed this decade to tackle climate change and protect nature. 

“At the same time many feel the economy is not working for them and want political and economic reform. It’s possible this may well help explain the rise in populist leaders.

“Our survey results provide a clear mandate from those across the G20 countries surveyed: redistribute wealth.  

“Greater equality will build stronger democracies to drive a fair transformation for a more stable planet.” 

Republicans want things to seem bad and stoke sentiment against the incumbent Democratic party.

Democrats want people to forget about the hardship high food and housing costs have caused on their watch, and put sticker shock in the context of rising wages or, on the blame side, corporate profits.

As the two parties make their case and nominate their candidates for the Nov. 5 presidential vote, Reuters correspondent Howard Schneider, analyzes the facts and figures behind the rhetoric.

Click here for the full Reuters article.

Customs and border protection officer and his partner Goose, a six year-old golden retriever work along the San Ysidro border in San Diego, California, U.S. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Today’s spotlight focuses on a brave pooch sniffing out drugs and contraband in the United States-Mexico border as the rise of fentanyl in the U.S. impacts public health, ethical business practices and social responsibilities.

One of America’s most valuable defenders against fentanyl trafficking at the Mexico border uses his nose to root out illicit drugs, an old-school technique that authorities say is key to reducing the flow of deadly synthetic opioids.

Goose, an enthusiastic Golden Retriever, weaves through a sea of idling cars on a warm afternoon at San Diego’s massive legal border crossing, one of the most transited in the world with roughly 100,000 people entering the U.S. each day.

The border crossing is open around the clock and dogs contend with exhaust fumes, hot pavement and unpredictable workdays that can go from routine to tense in seconds.

Now Goose and his handler, customs officer Joseph Arcia, trek inside to demonstrate to Reuters how the six-year-old canine can sniff out his training chew toy among the throngs of pedestrians crossing into the U.S. on foot, replicating what he and other dogs do to detect fentanyl and other contraband daily.

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