That’s it for our live coverage of the strike today. Stay tuned for more news and stories from my colleagues.
Key events:
About 13,000 UAW workers from GM, Ford and Chrysler-parent company Stellantis went on strike after walking away from the contract bargaining table. The existing contract expired at midnight on Thursday.
General Motors CEO hit back at strikers for rejecting ‘most significant offer’ in 115 years saying she was “extremely frustrated and disappointed”.
President Joe Biden dispatched two aides, Gene Sperling and acting labor secretary Julie Su to Detroit to help move along negotiations and he urged both sides to return to the bargaining table. In remarks given from the White House, Biden said that “no one wants a strike” but he believed “record corporate profits ... should be shared by record contracts for the UAW”. “The companies have made some significant offers. But I believe that should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts,” he said.
The UAW’s Twitter account was briefly stripped of its blue verification check shortly after the the UAW strikes began, a UAW official told the Intercept. The Intercept reports that the UAW’s blue check was restored once again after its initial story of the removed verification began circulating online.
UAW workers got wide-ranging support from members of congress including Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, Elizabeth Warren and Ohio senator Sherrod Brown. “It is totally reasonable for autoworkers to finally receive a fair share of the record breaking profits,” said Sanders.
Tensions from the strike escalated after GM announced it expected to idle a non-striking plant because it would soon run out of parts produced by a striking plant and give 2,000 workers temporary unemployment. Ford also said it would temporarily layoff 600 workers.
The UAW announced it would resume bargaining talks on Saturday, according to Reuters.
Updated
UAW plans to return to bargaining table on Saturday
The UAW said it plans to resume contract negotiations on Saturday after 12,700 workers walked out of three factories run and owned by GM, Ford, and Stellantis, the Chrysler parent company, according to Reuters.
The previous contract between the union and the automakers expired at midnight on Thursday. Speaking from the White House, President Biden urged both sides to return to the bargaining table. The automakers’ previous contract expired at 11:59pm ET on Thursday.
Updated
