If ever one doubted the power of a strike in the manufacturing sector, just look at the one the United Auto Workers (UAW) is waging against the Big Three auto manufacturers.

The historic strike — the first time the union has ever taken on the Detroit three all at once — has quickly created a political crisis. Joe Biden, who continues to call himself the most pro-labor president in US history, is under pressure to travel to a picket line himself, as Donald Trump claims he will skip another GOP debate in favor of some sort of event with autoworkers.

Biden made a statement echoing the union’s line — record profits, record contracts — and the administration said it would send labor secretary Julie Su and White House advisor Gene Sperling to Detroit, before shelving that plan for the time being. Reporting on the back-and-forth between the union and the White House suggests that the union simply extended an invitation to anyone who wants to show up in solidarity on the picket line. Biden, who despite his talk about Scranton, has rarely if ever been seen on a picket line, has not said he will do so. As we often say in the labor movement: we organize the politicians, they don’t organize us.