UAW Calls Strike Against General Motors: CNBC

(RTTNews) - The United Auto Workers union reportedly plans to go on strike against auto giant General Motors Co. (GM) after both the parties failed to reach a tentative deal before a Saturday deadline.

According to CNBC, the strike has been called despite GM saying it presented a "strong offer" to the union. The offer included the addition or retention of thousands of jobs and more than $7 billion in new investments over the next four years.

The strike could cost GM hundreds of millions of dollars. The last time the union declared a strike at GM was in 2007. The two-day work stoppage was estimated to have cost the Detroit automaker more than $300 million a day.

UAW Vice President Terry Dittes, who oversees the union's GM unit, made the strike announcement during a press conference Sunday morning in Detroit. The strike will take effect at 11:59 p.m. with roughly 48,000 workers heading to the picket lines.

"Today, we stand strong and say with one voice, we are standing up for our members and for the fundamental rights of working class people in this nation," Dittes said.