About 13,000 workers go on strike seeking better wages and benefits from Detroit’s three automakers

By TOM KRISHER and DAVID KOENIG
AP Auto Writers

DETROIT (AP) — About 13,000 U.S. auto workers stopped making vehicles and headed for the picket lines Friday after their leaders couldn’t bridge a chasm between union demands in contract talks and what Detroit’s three automakers are willing to pay.

The United Auto Workers union went on strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis simultaneously for the first time in its 88-year history as four-year contracts with the companies expired Thursday night.

The limited strike at assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri will likely chart the future of the union and of America’s homegrown auto industry.

It comes as U.S. labor is flexing its might at the same time that companies face a historic transition to making electric vehicles.