Now. Off the job and on the picket line. Thousands of Union Auto Workers take part in a coordinated strike against the Big Three Automakers simultaneously. The first time this has ever happened. Well take you to where talks stand at this hour. Plus, donald trump denies he ever asked a maralago staffer to delete surveillance video, potential evidence in his classified documents case. And the former president says he is willing to testify under oath. But will his attorneys let him . And what trump is saying about the secret documents he took from the white house. Utter destruction. Thats how a cnn reporter is describing scenes in libya after catastrophic flooding there. 5,000 lives confirmed lost. Making matters worse, the u. N. Says most of the deaths could have been avoided. We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news central. It is an American Labor strike unlike anything the nation has ever seen. Right now, thousands of auto workers are on the picket line. Theyre striking against all of the big three u. S. Automakers, General Motors, ford, and stellantis, for the first time in history. This is not a fullscale walkout at the moment. The uaw is targeting three huge plants in michigan, ohio and missouri. Of the unions 145,000 member, only about 13,000 have walked off the job so far. That number, though, could expand if time drags on and there is no deal. Workers want a 40 pay raise, and they want a Cost Of Living increase reinstated. They also want to go back to traditional Pension Plans and Health Coverage for retirees. The ceo of ford saying that a 40 pay increase for workers would put the company out of business. General motors ceo told cnn shes frustrated and some of the unions demands are not realistic. President biden just spoke for the First Time Since the strike began, and were going to bring you his comments here in a moment. First, though, cnns gabe cohen is on the scene for us in toledo, ohio, outside inside, i should say, of a local uaw headquarters. Tell us what youre seeing there. Reporter were about 3 miles down the road from the Sta Stellantis Factory where they make 3,000 jeeps every day. Right now, there are picketers outside of the gates of the factory. This is where most of the workers are today. Behind me, thousands of autoworkers showing up because theyre signing up for their strike pay right now. Theyll be getting 100 a day starting today. It is not much, but it is whats going to be happening. Thats being paid by the union, not by stellantis. I want to bring in right now, if you can turn this way, im going to bring in the president , bruce, of this local 12 union. Bruce, this could this strike, they said it was going to be targeted. It could have hit so many different facilities across the country, but it is here in toledo, ohio. 5,800 of your members who are going to be bearing the economic brunt of this, at least for now. 100 a day of strike pay. What is the mood like, and what are you hearing from them . Well, we wanted to be the target. We thought if we were the target, because our product is so hot in the marketplace and they make so much profit off of it, that it would be an easier strike to win. Because we cant shut the jeep plant down. This is the only place they make them in the world, toledo, ohio. Reporter do you get any sense of what type of progress is being made on the negotiation, and how long are your members willing and ready to strike . Our members are willing to stay in for the long haul. We had a strike on the other side of town. I remember staying out for seven weeks until they got a fair contract. Our members here are willing to do the same thing, whatever it is going to take. I think im pretty much an optimistic, so im hoping it gets resolved quickly. I think it will. Our president , shawn fain, made a great choice by closing our plant and the gm and the ford plant. He those the most profitable products to shut down. Reporter why is this strike necessary, based on your members and those in toledo . We went through bankruptcy with barack obama in 2008 and the beginning of 2009. We were told by the president , we had to give up huge concessions for them to get the Government Support to turn their companies around. We did that. It hasnt been reversed. Back in when we came out of bang run sit, bankruptcy, 15. 14 years later, this is 15. 78. Something wrong with that. Reporter thank you for letting us into your Union Headquarters today. Again, thousands of these autoworkers, 5,800 who are part of this toledo local union, are coming in today to get that strike pay. Its not much money and, for now, thats what theyre going to be living off of. Feeding their families with. Thats how theyre going to sustain. Yeah, and, look, that starting pay, that is a number that is stark. That is not much of an increase over time, even as some of these ceos say that some of their demands are unrealistic. That one certainly stands out there as perhaps not. Gabe cohen, thank you so much. We appreciate the report. The uaw says there will be no negotiations with the big three today. We have cnns vanessa yur yurke. She sat down with gms ceo. Mary barra is frustrated by the stalemate. We understand the world has changed, and thats why we put a historic offer on the table with the increases. I think our Manufacturing Team is the best on the field. The way they manage through the covid situation and continue to build cars, trucks and crossover, the way we managed and they, you know, moved with us as we went through the semiconductor shortage, and still the supply challenges we see today. Theyre very resilient. You know, i want to recognize them because our Manufacturing Team, along with the engineering team, for the last two years has been number one in jd power quality. We have a very talented team. We put a historic offer on the table, and thats why im so disappointed and frustrated. The union is demanding, asking for a 40 wage increase over four years. Theyre asking for that in part because they say ceos like yourself leading the big three are making those kind of pay increases over the course of the last four years. Youve seen a 34 pay increase in your salary. You make almost 30 million. Why should your workers not get the same type of pay increases that youre getting leading the company . Well, if you look at compensation, my compensation, 92 of it is based on performance of the company. One of the strong aspects of the way our compensation for our representative employees is designed is not only are we putting a 20 increase on the table, we have Profit Sharing. When the company does well, everyone does well. For the last several years, thats resulted in record Profit Sharing for our representative employees. You have to look at the whole compensation package. Not only 20 increase in gross wage but also the Profit Sharing aspect of it. World class health care. Theres several other features. We think we have a very competitive offer on the table, ask thats why we want to get back there and get this done. Our thanks to Vanessa Yurkevich for the conversation with mary barra. Meanwhile, President Biden called on Awe Cutomakers to go further in their offers to union workers. We go live to the white house. Kayla, what did President Biden say . Reporter boris, major automakers have, so far, offered roughly half the pay increases that workers are seeking. While the white house has, up until this point, taken a neutral chance and encouraged both sides to reach a deal, today, President Biden went the furthest that hes gone in putting the administration firmly on the side of the workers in saying that the automakers offers have not gone far enough. Auto companies have seen Record Profits, including the last few years, because of the extraordinary skill and sacrifices the uaw workers. Those Record Profits have not been shared fairly, in my view, with those workers. The be thottom line is, auto wos help create americas middle class. They deserve a contract that sustains them in the middle class. Reporter so far, uaw has not asked the administration for direct involvement in the talks. Rather, asking for broader policy changes that would help the union and sustain union jobs over the long haul. One of the examples of that is prioritizing union sites in the dispersement of tens of billions of dollars in loans from the Department Of Energy that will be coming out. That being said, though, boris, President Biden said that Acting Labor Secretary and james spurling, who have been monitoring negotiations from washington, will be dispatched to detroit to get a firsthand look at these talks and offer their support any way they can. Boris. Kayla tausche from the north lawn at the white house, thank you. Jim . Lets speak more about this with president of the uaw local 14 in toledo, ohio. Tony, thank you for taking the time this afternoon. Thank you for having me. I want to take a look at the offer that gm has made so far. I know the union was requesting pay increases up to 40 , and i know that some of that is really making up for concessions you made back in 2008 2009. 21 is what gm says it has offered, up to 21 . For most civilian workers in america, thats far beyond what theyre getting, wages. Salary increased 4. 6 for the year ending in june 2023. Why do you believe uaw workers should get bigger increases than the vast majority of americans are seeing . Well, thats for a couple of reasons. First, we set the tone. When we get a raise, everybody else gets a raise. So were the leaders when it comes to this. I think that will change for everybody else if we do get that raise. The other thing is, President Biden, we appreciate his comments. No one should know better than him. In 2009, he helped with the auto rescue. So he knows all of what we gave up. These corporations are making Record Profits, and were still living with the lingering consequence of the reconstruction. If you look at our employees you know, god bless our ceo, but she didnt wait 8 minutes for her pay increases. We just and about 20 years. We dont have Cost Of Living. When inflation spikes, were taking the brunt of that. Now, i know that demand for cars was enormous in the last couple years. Some of that a recovery from the shortages that we experienced during the pandemic and supply chain issues. Are you worried at all that this is Peek Ak Demand to some degre . Right now, profits are fantastic for the companies, but if they lock themselves into the increases youre talking about, in a couple years, it wont be rich for the companies and, therefore, this is something they cant give longer term . Well, we hear this every time four years comes around for our agreements. Theyre making Record Profits. We heard the same story the last time. So theyre doing just fine. When you look at these situations that theyve put themselves in, just like this strike, they put themselves in this situation. We gave them our demands six weeks ago. They just started to get serious within the last week. They ran out the clock, and were not messing around this time. The other thing is, in 2017, they shut down our Semiconductor Facility that we had in kokomo, indiana. We wouldnt have had a chip sh shortage if General Motors didnt ship the chips to asia. I understand the switch to ev is expensive, but they are a for Profit Company and theyre going to do just fine. Bigger picture, i wonder if you feel that a moment has arrived to some degree for unions in this country. As you know, for a number of years, decades, union participation was falling. In the last couple years, you had strikes and strikes that worked out. Ups workers, the raises they got. Do you sense that union strength, right, is growing, and is that part of the motivation here, to push as hard as youre pushing . It is. I mean, without a union, how are you going to get a fair deal in your workplace . If you go as an individual to a Profitable Company and say, hey, i demand 30 or 40 raise, theyll probably fire ya, right . But only in collective bargaining with your fellow Union Members in solidarity can you demand respect in the workplace. Thats what were doing right now. Our contract has been out of whack for a while, and only with the union can you do this. And i think the rest of the country is seeing that. This has been the highest Approval Rating weve had as a union in my lifetime, and were going to look to take this momentum and organize more places with this newfound demand for justice in the workplace. Tony totty, than sox ks so m for joining us and explaining the unions position this afternoon. Thank you for having me. Former President Trump says he did not tell an employee to delete maralago security footage, and he said he would testify under oath all about it. Well have more on that. Plus, cnn is on the ground in a libyan city that has just been decimated by flash floods. At least 5,000 people are dead in this country. There are still several thousands of others who are missing. 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