Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), shown here at a Michigan labor rally in December, called on Warren Buffett should broker a resolution to the three-month strike at a West Virginia metals plant. Photo by Carlin Stiehl | MLive.com)Carlin Stiehl | MLive.com

Billionaire Warren Buffett told Sen. Bernie Sanders last week that he won’t intervene in a three-month strike at a subsidiary of Portland-based Precision Castparts, one of the largest companies owned by Buffett’s investment firm.

The senator had asked Buffett to broker a resolution between a metals plant Precision Castparts owns in West Virginia and 450 steelworkers who have been on strike since the beginning of October.

“You have spoken out eloquently on the crisis our country now faces in terms of growing income and wealth inequality. You have correctly pointed out that, while working families struggle, the top one percent is doing extremely well,” Sanders, a Vermont independent, wrote in his Dec. 28 letter.

“Today,” Sanders continued, “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.”

Buffett responded with his own letter the same day, defending the labor record of his investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, but adding that he leaves personnel decisions to the firm’s individual operating companies.

“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,” Buffett wrote.

Workers at Special Metals, a Precision Castparts subsidiary, have been on strike since Oct. 1. They’re seeking higher pay and a better health-care plan than what the company is offering.

In a statement Monday, Precision Castparts communications director David Dugan noted that many of the Portland company’s workers are unionized at sites across the country and said its goal is “a respectful and productive relationship with our employees.”

“We have ultimately achieved that goal in previous contract negotiations over many years,” Dugan wrote. “We are actively engaged in labor negotiations with our employees in Huntington, West Virginia. We have and will continue to bargain in good faith and move through the process to reach a fair agreement.”

Precision Castparts has been a persistent disappointment for Buffett since he acquired the Portland company in 2016. The $37 billion deal remains Berkshire Hathaway’s largest outright acquisition ever.

Last year, Buffett admitted the deal was a mistake as Precision Castparts’ growth stalled in the years following the acquisition, then plunged when the pandemic hit.

Precision Castparts makes metal components for aircraft, power generators and other industrial applications. Its sales were badly hurt by Boeing’s 737 MAX crisis and the downturn in air travel triggered by COVID-19.

Berkshire Hathaway wrote down the value of Precision Castparts by $10 billion in 2020 and eliminated 40% of its jobs worldwide, about 13,000 positions altogether.

Precision Castparts has had its own labor troubles in Oregon, where it is in a protracted fight over whether it must recognize a union approved by local welders.

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | Twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699

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