AP Explains: Why auto workers went on strike against GM

More than 49,000 union auto workers at General Motors are walking picket lines, silencing more than 50 company factories and parts depots in a strike over contract negotiations.The dispute boils down to this: GM has been highly profitable since emerging from the Great Recession, and now that the company is healthy, workers want a bigger slice.GM, though, wants to protect profits as it faces a global sales slowdown, tariff threats and another possible recession.