Maintenance workers strike at General Motors plants in US

The United Auto Workers Union has announced that negotiations with the automaker will cease and about 49,000 members at the General Motors plant in the United States will start a strike on Sunday night.

At a Sunday morning meeting in Detroit, a decision was made after nearly 200 factory-level union leaders voted unanimously.

Terry Dittes, vice president of the union, said in a statement: “We supported General Motors at the moment we needed the most.

There may still be a possibility that the negotiators will return to the table and withdraw the contract, but a spokesman for Brian Rothenberg said at a press conference that it would be impossible. He said it was difficult to believe that negotiators could solve many problems before midnight.

The announcement came a few hours after the union expired a four-year deal with GM on Saturday night.

As negotiations continued, they were instructed to report jobs to workers.

General Motors said workers in the US plant were a strong proposal, including improvements in wages and benefits and investments in eight facilities in four states.

"We are disappointed that the UAW leadership decided to strike at midnight tonight. We negotiated with good will and urgency. Our goal is to build a strong future for our employees and our business," the company said.

Stop production

UAW vice president Terry Dittes said Saturday that after months of negotiations, unions and GM are far apart on issues such as wages, health care, temporary workers, employment security and profit sharing. Letters to members and letters to GM were intended to increase pressure on GM negotiators.

Dittes, union representative with GM, said in a statement Saturday night that "we are fighting for wage increases, economic quality health care and job security, but GM is refusing to surpass record profits over hardworking Americans." .

A strike of 49,200 union members could stop GM's US production and even stop production in Canada and Mexico. This means that the number of vehicles a consumer can choose from a dealer lot is impossible, and it is impossible to make special orders of cars and trucks.

Since GM plans to close four US factories, the conversation between unions and GM has been tense from the start. The union promised to fight the closure.

The strike took place for the first time since a two-day labor strike at GM in 2007.

This confusion was arrested by the FBI at the end of the chaotic week, at a personal expense accused of conspiracy charges by members of the UAW Executive Board.

Vance Pearson, UAW director of St. Louis, Missouri, was accused of using the union meeting as a cover to justify his long stay at a California luxury resort.

Source: TRTWorld and Agencies