UAW members recall tense encounters with Mike Rogers during his time in Congress

Filed 43m ago · Via Michigan Advance · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Gypsy Shoegazer No Voices

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Miguel Discart & Kiri Karma · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

As Mike Rogers runs for Michigan's open Senate seat, UAW members describe tense encounters with him dating to his time representing the state's 8th Congressional District from 2001 to 2015. One former local president recalls Rogers citing his brother's factory job to claim empathy, then bristling when asked why his votes ran counter to that brother's interests.

A 2003 letter in Rogers' own congressional archive asked the UAW to limit future office meetings to four to six people after calling members 'confrontational.' Rogers opposed a 2007 GM strike as disappointing to workers' own paychecks, then said in 2023 he supported a UAW strike; his campaign now says factory workers don't want El-Sayed's healthcare and EV positions.

The UAW, AFL-CIO, AFT and Michigan Teamsters have endorsed Rogers' opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, while Rogers holds endorsements from business chambers and a group called Auto Workers for Trump. The AFL-CIO rates Rogers' House voting record at 11%, in line with the Republican average.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A congressman asking the union to send fewer workers to fewer meetings is a strange way to say he feels for the guys on the line. Flip-flopping on a strike from 'disappointed' to 'supportive' once the calendar rolled around to campaign season doesn't require a conspiracy theory, just a watch. Workers tend to remember who met with them and who sent a staffer to the hallway instead.

Source: Read the original at Michigan Advance → Scored: Gypsy Shoegazer No Voices · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0