Union for 49K workers at GM announces plan to strike

DETROIT  — The United Auto Workers union announced that its roughly 49,000 members at General Motors plants in the U.S. will go on strike as soon as midnight Sunday because contract negotiations with the automaker had broken down.

The decision came after about 200 plant-level union leaders voted unanimously in favor of a walkout during a meeting Sunday morning in Detroit.

“We stood up for General Motors when they needed us most. Now we are standing together in unity and solidarity for our members,” union Vice President Terry Dittes said in a statement.

It’s still possible that bargainers could return to the table and hammer out an agreement, but union spokesman Brian Rothenberg said at a news conference that it would be unlikely. He said it would be hard to believe that the bargainers could resolve so many issues before 11:59 p.m.

In a statement, GM said it offered improved wages, benefits and additional U.S. jobs.

“It is disappointing that the UAW leadership has chosen to strike at midnight tonight. We have negotiated in good faith and with a sense of urgency. Our goal remains to build a strong future for our employees and our business,” the company said.

Rothenberg  would not comment further on GM’s offer.

GM also said the offer made to the union included more than $7 billion in U.S. factory investments and the creation of 5,400 new positions, a minority of which would be filled by existing employees. GM would not give a precise number. The investments would be made at factories in four states, two of which were not identified.

Among the things GM offered was that it would start making new products at plants it currently plans to close in Detroit and Lordstown, Ohio, according to a person who was briefed on the negotiations.

GM offered to build a new all-electric pickup truck at the Detroit factory slated to close next year. The Lordstown plant, which already has stopped making cars, would make become a battery manufacturing plant and might produce electric vehicles for a company called Workhorse, the person said.

“While we are fighting for better wages, affordable quality health care, and job security, GM refuses to put hard working Americans ahead of their record profits,” Dittes, the union’s chief bargainer, said in a statement.