As talks falter, UAW calls first national strike against GM since 2007

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A member of United Auto Workers, Aramark workers, carries a strike sign outside the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. September 15, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

DETROIT (Reuters) – The United Auto Workers (UAW) said on Sunday that its roughly 48,000 hourly workers at General Motors Co facilities would go on strike as of midnight Sunday after U.S. labor contract talks reached an impasse, the first nationwide strike at GM in 12 years.

“We do not take this lightly,” Terry Dittes, the UAW vice president in charge of the union’s relationship with GM, said at a press conference in downtown Detroit. “This is our last resort.”

GM said in a statement that its offer to the UAW during talks included more than $7 billion in new investments, 5,400 jobs – a majority of which would be new – pay increases, improved benefits and a contract ratification bonus of $8,000.

“We have negotiated in good faith and with a sense of urgency,” the automaker said.

A strike will very quickly shut down GM’s operations across North America and could hurt the broader U.S. economy.

A prolonged industrial action would also cause hardship for GM hourly workers on greatly reduced strike pay.

GM’s workers last went out on a brief two-day strike in 2007 during contract talks. A more painful strike occurred in Flint, Michigan, in 1998, lasting 54 days and costing the No. 1 U.S. automaker more than $2 billion.

As of Sunday, talks between GM and the UAW had been suspended, according to people familiar with the matter.

The union has been fighting to stop GM from closing auto assembly plants in Ohio and Michigan and arguing workers deserve higher pay after years of record profits for GM in North America.

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