General Motors CEO Mary Barra assured striking workers the transition to electric vehicles would not harm or replace their jobs.

In an interview, Barra urged United Auto Workers strikers, who began their strike early Friday, to return to the negotiating table. Aiming to soothe concerns over the transition to electric vehicles, Barra touted the company's efforts at making the transition as smooth as possible and assured workers their jobs wouldn't be in jeopardy over it.

UAW ANNOUNCES HISTORIC AUTO STRIKE AFTER NEGOTIATIONS WITH AUTOMAKERS FALTER

"There's been a lot of analysis done, and there's differing views," she answered when asked how big of a role the transition to electric vehicles plays in the strike negotiations. "I can tell you from a GM-specific perspective: As we started more than two years ago planning for the transformation, we wanted to make sure we took our entire manufacturing team along with us. We're leveraging all of our facilities. That's why we have work, we have product, we have components, and continue to remain the warehouses for all our facilities."

Speaking only for General Motors, Barra laid out the company's efforts to make the transition smooth and retain its workers.

"One of the things we did that I think is different than some of the other automakers is we designed, internally, power units. ... We are now allocating those to our plants that used to, or build today still, the internal combustion engine," she said. "So that shows General Motors's commitment to make sure we can take everyone along."

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The transition to electric vehicles is one of the primary underlying problems in the UAW strike, as the Biden administration pushes for the transition.

The UAW is aiming for an increase in benefits, primarily a 36% wage increase for workers over four years. It is additionally demanding the restoration of cost-of-living pay raises, abandoned for new hires in 2007, an end to tiered wages for factory jobs, a 32-hour workweek with 40 hours of pay, pension increases for retirees, and the restoration of defined-benefit pensions for new hires who only receive a 401(k)-style retirement plan.