Nearly 46,000 General Motors Workers Go On Strike

US-AUTO-GM-STRIKE

Around 46,000 General Motors employees across the country walked off the job after contract negotiations between the car company and the United Auto Workers union fell apart. It is the first time in 12 years that U.S. auto workers have gone on strike.

Union officials say that the two sides are still far apart on key issues such as wages, health care benefits, and job security. They state that after years of turning a profit, including $11.8 billion in operating profits, the company must share that money with its workers.

"This is our last resort," Terry Dittes, the union's lead negotiator with GM said. "We are standing up for the fundamental rights of working people in this country."

GM says their offer included $7 billion in investments that would protect 5,400 union jobs and promised that their new electric truck would be manufactured in the United States.

The last strike in 2007 lasted just three days but previous strikes have dragged on for months.

"The way it's looking right now, it's going to go on for a while," Celso Duque, a 22-year GM employee told the Detroit News. "This is not going to be like a two-day strike like we had in 2007."

Photo: Getty Images


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