UAW strike lingers as candidates visit

NEW YORK — Bargainers were meeting all day Sunday at General Motors’ headquarters in downtown Detroit as a strike by 49,000 auto workers neared an eighth day.

“They’re still talking,” United Auto Workers union spokesman Brian Rothenberg said.

The workers left their jobs early last Monday after their four-year contract with the company expired.

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren visited the striking workers on Sunday at the GM Detroit Hamtramck plant.

“GM is demonstrating that it has no loyalty to workers in America. … Their only loyalty is to their bottom line, and if they can save a nickel by moving jobs to Mexico or to Asia or anywhere else on this planet, they will do it,” Warren said.

Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden visited and spoke with striking auto workers in Kansas City, Kan.

The workers are seeking a bigger slice of GM’s profits, products to manufacture at plants GM wants to close, a path to permanent jobs for temporary workers and other benefits.

GM wants to lower its labor costs so they’re closer to the compensation for workers at U.S. factories owned by foreign automakers. Most UAW production workers make about $30 per hour. GM’s labor cost, including benefits, is $63 per hour while the foreign companies pay about $50, according to the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank.

The strike is playing out while a federal corruption investigation against top UAW officials widens. The FBI raided UAW President Gary Jones’ suburban Detroit home last month and prosecutors have charged 11 people in the investigation so far, leading many of the 49,000 workers nationwide to question whether leaders have their backs.