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Nearly 50,000 UAW Members at GM Go on Strike

UAW Strike
AFL-CIO

As of midnight Sunday, UAW members at General Motors have gone on strike. The 2015 collective bargaining agreement between UAW and GM expired Saturday after GM offered an inadequate new contract. Nearly 50,000 workers are now on strike. They are demanding fair wages, affordable health care, a share of profits, job security and a defined path to permanent seniority for temporary workers.

UAW President Gary Jones said: “We told UAW GM members that we would stand up for them and their future.”

UAW Vice President Terry Dittes explained: “We stood up for General Motors when they needed us most. Now we are standing together in unity and solidarity for our members, their families and the communities where we work and live."

Ted Krumm of UAW Local 652, who is the national bargaining committee chair, further expanded upon the need for the strike: 

We have been clear at the table about what GM members have indicated we will accept. We are standing up for what is right. We as local unions will sacrifice to stand up for what we deserve. Our members have spoken; we have taken action; and this is a decision we did not make lightly. We are committed to a strong contract at GM that recognizes our UAW members, who make some of the greatest products in the world and make GM so profitable.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (UMWA) showed the federation's support for members of the UAW:

As our UAW brothers and sisters prepare to walk the picket line, the 12.5 million working people of the AFL-CIO are ready to march alongside them. Calling a strike is a deeply difficult decision and always a measure of last resort. This is a fight to win dignity for the 46,000 auto workers who have delivered their bosses record-breaking profits for years. We will have their backs every day until they win the respect and security that they deserve.

Other labor leaders, organizations and allies quickly showed their support for UAW members:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Numerous presidential candidates also weighed in with their support for the UAW members:

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