President Joe Biden rode in a motorcade to picket with United Auto Workers on strike against the Big Three automakers. He is the first President to join the picket line. He stayed for 15 minutes. 

“You’ve heard me say that Wall Street did not build this country; the middle class did,†President Biden said.

The United Auto Workers union expanded strikes against Detroit automakers Friday, ordering 7,000 more workers to walk off the job in Illinois and Michigan to pressure the companies to improve their offers of wage increases and benefits.

The union struck two weeks ago at three assembly plants before the most recent strike occurred at a Ford plant in Chicago and a General Motors factory near Lansing.

Union President Shawn Fain told workers in a video appearance that the strikes were escalated because Ford and GM refused “to make meaningful progress†in contract talks. Jeep maker Stellantis was spared from the third round of strikes.

The strikes were originally limited to three assembly plants: a GM factory in Wentzville, Missouri, a Ford plant in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit, and a Jeep plant run by Stellantis in Toledo, Ohio.

The union is not ramping up its strike against Stellantis, where the union said they have made “significant progress” in negotiations.