"You owe more to your workers," said US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Thursday, shaking his fist at the nation's three major automakers.
They'll soon be embroiled in negotiations with the United Auto Workers international unit for a new master contract in September.

Ahead of what are sure to be intense talks, Senator Brown and more than a dozen of his colleagues want the 'Big Three' to play fair.

"Part of the reason we wrote this letter is I want at least a third of the senate to put pressure on GM, Ford, Chrysler that they do the right thing here," Brown said. "They're always coming to the government for help, they get huge tax breaks...I won't say they abuse the public trust, but clearly they've not lived up to what we think this storied company has done to make communities better."

The international UAW has already said it wants the Ultium battery plant in Lordstown to be part of that master agreement - which Brown supports. That's despite its dual ownership by GM and LG Chem.

The Senator told 21 News that GM needs to drag LG Chem to the table, since GM chose the foreign partner as an excuse not to pay better wages.

"This is a successful workforce in The Valley, they know how to make cars, they know how to make batteries, they know how to do this work, they're highly skilled and to pay them 16 or 17 dollars an hour is just insulting," said Brown.

A perceived insult that he hopes will be repaid when the contract between the UAW and the 'Big Three' expires September 14.