Union Strike May Force GM Plant Closing
According to Bloomberg.com:
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., with light- truck output slowed by a strike at a supplier, may shut its first car assembly plant by April 4, a union chief said.
The American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. walkout threatens to deprive GM's Lordstown, Ohio, factory of a brake part, which would halt work on the Chevrolet Cobalt, said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112.
Such a shutdown would escalate the strike's effect on GM, the world's largest automaker. The 29-day walkout so far has affected light trucks for which GM has extra inventory, while the Cobalt car is selling relatively well, said analyst Rebecca Lindland of Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts.
``There's a lot of competition in that compact-car segment, and that could definitely be a disadvantage,'' Lindland said in an interview.
The Lordstown plant employs about 2,400 people, and a shutdown may affect as many as 350 workers at related factories, Graham said. The plant probably can keep producing until April 4, he said, adding, ``Without this part we just cannot run.''
GM isn't commenting on future plant closures and is assessing fallout from the American Axle strike ``day by day,'' spokeswoman Sherrie Childers Arb said.
The strike at American Axle, GM's largest source of axles, forced the automaker to stop or slow production at 29 plants that build pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles, vans, engines and vehicle parts. About 3,650 UAW members at Detroit-based American Axle struck on Feb. 26 over pay and benefits...click to continue.
