United Auto Workers’ International President Urges Vote for Bayh Across Indiana, Slams Congressman Todd Young’s Opposition to Auto Rescue That Saved 100,000 Hoosier Jobs

INDIANAPOLIS – Yesterday, United Auto Workers’ (UAW) International President Dennis Williams toured the state championing Evan Bayh to remind workers that Congressman Todd Young wanted the auto industry to go “belly up.”

Williams was joined by local UAW leaders and city mayors at the stops, including South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight, and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. In Fort Wayne, the bargaining chairman for Local 2209 Rich LeTourneau went as far as to say that “Evan Bayh made Indiana great again,” because the auto rescue had saved more than 4,000 hourly and salaried workers at the Allen County GM pickup assembly plant alone.

“Congressman Young has a history of siding with special interests in Washington while supporting policies that harm Hoosier workers,” said Dennis Williams, international president of the UAW. “He opposed the auto rescue, supports job-killing trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and has voted against job training and assistance for Hoosiers—even when their jobs are outsourced to countries like Mexico and China. While Evan Bayh has spent his career standing up for Hoosier workers and fighting to save Hoosier jobs, Indiana workers simply can’t trust Todd Young to put them before his political career.”

WBND:

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The international president of the United Auto Workers on Monday urged employees at Allen County’s General Motors plant to vote for Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Evan Bayh.

[…] ‘When (Bayh) was a United States senator, he stood with us on so many issues, and we’ve had a lot of debate over the years,’ Williams said. ‘We have an opportunity to once again put a statesman back in the United States Senate, and believe me, brothers and sisters, we are lacking statesmen in the United States Senate.’

[…] Rich LeTourneau, bargaining chairman for Local 2209, said the bailout saved the Allen County GM pickup assembly plant, which employs about 4,000 hourly and salaried workers.

‘Maybe we should be saying that Evan Bayh made Indiana great again,’ LeTourneau said, referring to Trump’s slogan that he wants to ‘make America great again.’

Williams said the local GM plant likely would not have lasted without federal aid in 2009. He said Young’s stated opposition to the bailout in 2010, when he was a congressional candidate, is ‘a track record enough.’”

Indiana Public Media: “The head of the United Auto Workers was in Indiana on Monday, urging union members to vote for Democratic Senate candidate Evan Bayh. […]

UAW international president Dennis Williams … says that Bayh would be a good national ally for Indiana labor, as opposed to his Republican rival, Congressman Todd Young.

Williams says Young and the GOP presidential ticket of Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence are a “trifecta” that would be bad for jobs and wages.”

Kokomo Tribune: “[United Auto Workers President Dennis] Williams went on to promote Bayh, a candidate he negotiated with when Bayh was Indiana’s governor. […] ‘We need a candidate and we need a leader like Evan Bayh,’ he said.

[…] Williams later criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Indiana Gov. and Trump running mate Mike Pence and U.S. Senate candidate Todd Young as a “trifecta” of auto bailout opponents.

‘What [bankruptcy] would have meant, this plant would probably not be here if that would have happened,’ said Williams. ‘The people in that facility and all the suppliers around this facility and this community would not have been what it is today.’”

Indy Star: “The president of the United Auto Workers canvassed the state Monday, telling union members to support Evan Bayh, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate who he said understands working men and women need good wages and benefits.

[…] Democrats have hit Bayh’s opponent, GOP Congressman Todd Young, for his backing of free trade policies and opposition to the auto industry bailout. In August, Young said he supports ‘fair trade’ as the race for the pivotal U.S. Senate seat heated up.

[…] The union’s international president, Dennis Williams … argued Young joined the top of the ticket in thinking ‘Chrysler and General Motors should go bankrupt.’”

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