Billionaire Investor Warren Buffett Tells Bernie Sanders He's Staying Out Of Union Strike

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in a letter addressed Tuesday that he won't intervene in a steelworker strike at the Berkshire-Hathaway-owned Special Metals company based in West Virginia.

Sanders had sent a letter to Buffett earlier this week asking him to intervene in the labor dispute between Berkshire’s Precision Cast Parts unit and the United Steelworkers Local 40 union to assure a fair contract can be agreed upon.

A total of 450 workers have been on strike since Oct. 1.

The facility manufactures military jet engines, commercial planes and spacecraft.

“At a time when this company and Berkshire Hathaway are both doing very well, there is no reason why workers employed by you should be worrying about whether they will be able to feed their children or have healthcare. There is no reason why the standard of living of these hard-working Americans should decline. I know that you and Berkshire Hathaway can do better than that,” Sanders wrote to Buffett.

In Buffett's letter to Sanders, he noted that he will not intervene in the negotiations citing Berkshire’s policy of letting its companies “deal individually with their own labor and personnel decisions.”

United Steelworkers Local 40 President Chad Thompson told Sanders he appreciates the pro-labor senator's efforts. Thompson said he isn’t expecting to see significant pay raises, but does expect to attain their benefits and receive raises similar to past ones.

Precision Cast Parts spokesman David Dugan has said the company is committed to reaching a fair agreement.

Special Metals is not the only company that has been on strike.

John Deere, Frito Lay and Kellogg’s ratified new contracts this year. Sanders went to a Kellogg’s plant in Michigan just days before Christmas to demand the cereal company pay its workers a higher wage.