AUTOS

Ford, UAW Face Strike Deadline: Union workers at one of two assembly lines at Ford Motor Co.’s Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake threatened to strike if no new contract agreement was reached by midnight. UAW Local 2000, representing 1,900 workers on the Mercury Villager-Nissan Quest minivan production line, rejected a proposed contract March 14. Workers on the other line, which makes the Econoline full-size van, approved a separate contract in voting at the same time. As part of the 1988 joint venture with the Japanese auto maker Nissan, workers on the Villager-Quest line agreed to use Japanese-style management principles, including the “team” concept, in which workers learn how to perform several different jobs on the line. But employees have complained of insufficient training and say they don’t have the time or work force needed to do their jobs properly.