GM faces mounting losses amid labor strike

Union workers manned picket lines outside General Motors facilities across the country Tuesday (September 17) in an ongoing nationwide strike that could cost the company up to $50 million a day.

That's according to an estimate by RBC Capital Markets.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) TONY MANN, PRESIDENT OF UAW, LOCAL 668 SAYING:

"We bailed out general motors in their time of need. Now it's time for general motors to return the favor and start giving back."

The United Auto Workers' roughly 48,000 members went on strike Monday after the union said contract talks hit an impasse.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) STEVE SAUVAGEAU, GM WORKER IN FLINT, MICHIGAN:

"We're just looking for a fair deal,"

The union wants to stop GM from shutting down a factory in Lordstown, Ohio and an assembly plant in Detroit.

It's also demanding higher pay for workers after years of record profits.

But GM says plant shutdowns are necessary responses to market shifts and that UAW wages and benefits are expensive compared with non-union auto plants in southern U.S. states.

U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on the strike and said he doesn't wants GM to build plants outside the U.S.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING:

"They built many plants in China ane Mexico and I don't like that at all."

The union and General Motors are continuing to talk as the strike drags on.