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Bernie Sanders: Pay your workers better. Warren Buffett: That’s not my job

Lakshmi

Senate Bernie Sanders wrote a letter to the Berkshire Hathaway CEO demanding that he intervene in the United Steel Workers’ Union strike at a special metal plant in Huntington, West Virginia. They have been on strike for three months. Special Metals is a unit of precision casts owned by Buffett’s Berkshire.

“At one time this company and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) Both work well and there is no reason to worry about whether the workers you hire can feed their children or stay healthy, “Sanders wrote.” Working Americans need to decline. I know you and Berkshire Hathaway can do better than that. ”

His letter stated that employees would be offered only a $ 2,000 signed bonus without a first-year pay rise, followed by a 1% pay increase for the second year and 2% for the next three years. The company wants to increase the cost of health insurance for workers from $ 275 to $ 1,000 per month. And it also reduced the amount of vacation time they already had.

But Buffett responded with a letter quoting Berkshire’s annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which said it should leave the management of its various companies to executives at each subsidiary – not Berkshire (or Buffett).

“Our companies handle the decisions of their own labor and staff (except for the selection of the CEO) individually,” he told Sanders’ office. “I am sending your letter to the CEO of Precision Costfords, but I have not made any recommendation to him for any action. He is responsible for his business.”

Unlike many of the country’s richest men, Buffett established himself as concerned about workers and income inequality. He has called Higher taxes on the rich And promised Give the bulk of his wealthAccording to Forbes’ real-time billionaire tracker, it is now worth more than $ 100 billion. Buffett does not have the anti-union reputation of many such billionaires Amazon (AMZN) Founder Jeff Bezos Or Tesla (DSLA) CEO Elon Musk, Both struggled with union organization efforts.

In Buffett’s letter to Sanders, he cited several examples of his company’s trade union affiliates, including Netzets and Cheese Candy. Sanders’ letter also urges Buffett to live up to his expressed concerns about income inequality.

“Mr. Buffett: You have spoken about the crisis that our country is currently facing in terms of growing income and wealth inequality. You have rightly pointed out that while working families are struggling, the one percent are doing much better,” he said. .

Special metals strike

Specialty metals make nickel alloy metals essential for aerospace crafts and aircraft. Berkshire acquired Precision Costfords in 2016 for $ 37.2 billion. Berkshire reported that Precision Costford had revenue of $ 1.6 billion in the third quarter and increased its third-quarter profit to $ 217 million in the third quarter of 2020, although it did not specify its profit for the quarter. Berkshire’s gross revenue was $ 10.3 billion for the quarter and $ 50.1 billion for the first nine months of the year.

A video posted on the United Steelworkers’ Union website quoted strikers as saying that Special Metals was continuing to operate, but did not say whether it was using temporary workers, permanent replacement workers or salaried workers to run the factory.

The worker converts its muscle from the bosses to tips for the workers

“If I’ve been a customer there, I’m not interested in producing a few scopes I know because they do not know what’s going on,” union member Steve Bramfield said at the union video.

Number Strikes are on the rise In recent months trade unions and rank members have been reluctant to accept concession agreements that have sometimes been accepted in the past, especially in light of the registered numbers. Job opportunities In the labor market, and the difficulty faced by many employers Identifying skilled workers To fill job opportunities.

Communication department for precision casts Issued a statement saying, “We want to achieve respectful and productive relationships with our employees, and we have finally reached that goal in previous contract negotiations over the years.” It also said it would “continue to bargain in good faith” with the union. It did not answer questions about If the strike continues, the union or how it was able to function and plans to act further.