UAW strike: union to resume contract negotiations on Saturday – as it happened

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.

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.

General Motors said it expects to temporarily pause operations at a non-striking plant in Kansas and put 2,000 non-striking workers on temporary unemployment because the plant is expected to run out of parts, according to the Washington Post.

GM said the workers will not get the full slate of unemployment benefits they would typically get because they are working on an expired contract. Ford also expects to temporarily lay off 600 workers.

“We have said repeatedly that nobody wins in a strike and that effects go well beyond our employees on the plant floor and negatively impact our customers, suppliers and the communities where we do business,” GM told the Washington Post in a statement.

Here are some images coming through the newswires of the UAW rally in Detroit, Michigan, where union representatives and lawmakers including senator Bernie Sanders and governor Gretchen Whitmer took the stage:

“It is totally reasonable for autoworkers to finally receive a fair share of the record breaking profits,” said Sanders.

“The time is long overdue to end the disastrous two-tier system. It means finally ending the use of temporary workers and very importantly, it means that every auto worker receives a decent pension so they can retire with dignity,” he continued, explaining the significance of the strikes.

“It means as we combat climate change, the existential threat of climate change, you’re trying to make sure that this planet is healthy and habitable for our kids. That when the auto industry builds new electric vehicles and battery plants, it means that the workers in those plants become part of the UAW and receive the same wages and benefits as union members.

Brothers and sisters, the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Stellantis and their major stockholders on Wall Street have got to understand, they cannot have it all.

We refuse to live in an oligarchy. We refuse to accept a society in which so few have so much and so many have so little. Brothers and sisters, enough is enough!” he said.

“I read a lot in the media about how a strike is going to be bad for the economy. Well let me tell you something about the economy,” said Sanders.

“When you have auto workers who cannot afford to buy the cars, that is bad for the economy.

When you have auto workers who can’t afford to take out a mortgage to buy a modest home, that is bad for the economy.

When you have auto workers who can’t afford childcare or to save up to send their kids to college, that is bad for the economy.

When you have auto workers who can’t afford prescription drugs, can’t afford healthcare, that is bad for the economy,” he continued.

“We will not accept that over the last 20 years, the average wage for American auto workers has decreased by 30% after adjusting for inflation,” said Sanders.

“You’re wanting to know why you’re out on strike right now, that’s the reason,” he continued.

Sanders also addressed Ford CEO Jim Farley, saying:

Mr Farley, last year, you made nearly $21m in total compensation and my guess is that when you retire from your job, you’re going to have a great compensation … and all kinds of benefits.

Do you have any clue as to what it’s like to be a worker getting older, having worked your entire life and not having any money in the bank as you prepare for retirement?”

Sanders also addressed the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, saying:

Do you know, Mr Tavares, what it is like to be classified as a temp and despite working year after year, you’ll remain a temp, receiving wages and benefits significantly lower than your brothers and sisters doing the same exact work?

Mr Tavares, do you have any clue what that is about?”

“Do you have any clue clue what it’s like for one of your workers to try and survive on $17 an hour, which is the average starting wage of an automobile worker?” Sanders said in his remarks, addressing General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

“Do you know, Miss Barra, what it’s like to try and raise a family, put food on the table and pay rent when you’re making $20 bucks an hour?” he continued.

“In the last 50 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. The problem is it’s gone in the wrong direction,” said Sanders.

“Instead of going from the top down to the bottom, it’s going from the bottom up to the top … we’re going to reverse that trend,” he continued.

“If the ruling class of this country wants a redistribution of wealth, we’re going to give it to them,” he added.

“Despite record breaking corporate profits, despite corporate America spending hundreds of billions on dividends and stock buybacks, the average American worker today is worse off than he or she was 50 years ago,” said Sanders.

“Brothers and sisters, that is exactly what this strike is all about,” he added.