Warren Buffett rejects Sanders’ request to intervene amid union strike

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet has rejected Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) request to intervene in various labor disputes.

In a letter to Sanders, Buffet said his company deals with their labor and personnel decisions individually. He also sent a copy of Berkshire Hathaway’s 10-K, which explains its operating businesses on an “unusually decentralized basis.”

“I’m passing along your letter to the CEO of Precision Castparts but making no recommendation to him as to any action. He is responsible for his business,” Buffet said in his letter.

Buffet also told Sanders to reach out to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio.), the chairman of the Banking Committee, on his business inquiries as well. 

Sanders recently asked Buffet in a letter to support a group in a labor strike within Precision Castparts Corp, a company owned by Berkshire Hathaway that makes equipment for the aerospace and energy industries.

“Today, I am personally requesting that you intervene in the negotiations between Steelworkers Local 40 and Precision Castparts to make sure that the workers are treated with dignity and respect and receive a fair contract that rewards the hard work and sacrifices they have made,” Sanders said in his letter. 

“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 health care,” Sanders wrote. “There is no reason why the standard of living of these hard working Americans should decline.”