The senator and presidential candidate says he stands in solidarity with the workers in Erie.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday called on the company that is merging with GE Transporation to maintain an existing collective bargaining agreement with a union at the Lawrence Park plant until a new one can be negotiated in good faith.

Local 506 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America at GE Transportation on Wednesday announced it would schedule a strike authorization vote for Saturday as collective bargaining with Wabtec continued to go poorly. The merger of the companies is scheduled to take effect Monday.

"I'm proud to stand in solidarity with the 1,700 locomotive manufacturing workers in Erie, Pennsylvania, who are fighting to keep the pay and benefits they have won as members of the UE union," Sanders tweeted Thursday, accompanied by an open letter to Wabtec CEO Raymond T. Betler. "Corporate executives must not use the merger between GE and Wabtec to hurt workers."

"In my view, the Wabtec/GE merger should not be used to take away the hard-fought gains UE has achieved over the past several decades," Sanders wrote to Betler. "I have been told that your current offer would mandate overtime, adopt arbitrary schedules, reduce wages by up to 38 percent for recalled and newly hired workers, and replace up to 20 percent of the workforce with low-paid temporary workers. That would be absolutely unacceptable."

Sanders said he will "provide my full support and solidarity to the workers at this plant to ensure that they achieve a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement."

Sanders, an independent from Vermont, ran in the Democratic presidential primary in 2016. He launched his second presidential campaign Tuesday.

The full text of Sanders' letter to Betler:

I'm proud to stand in solidarity with the 1,700 locomotive manufacturing workers in Erie, Pennsylvania, who are fighting to keep the pay and benefits they have won as members of the UE union.



Corporate executives must not use the merger between GE and Wabtec to hurt workers.pic.twitter.com/o5NrS1CJrR

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders)February 21, 2019