Strike at 2 GM Brake Factories Stops Work at 8 Other Plants
No end was in sight Friday to a strike by 3,000 workers at two General Motors Corp. brake factories that has idled eight other GM plants, including six plants that assemble cars and pickup trucks.
A GM spokesperson said formal talks between the two sides were not scheduled for the weekend, and a union leader said he expects the strike to continue into next week.
Industry watchers said the nation’s No. 1 auto maker is probably under considerable pressure to settle the strike at the two Delphi Chassis plants, which supply brake systems and parts to nearly all of its 29 assembly plants.
“The impact of the strike is spreading rapidly,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at UC Berkeley. He said the situation is aggravated because the company keeps just enough inventory in stock to meet its demand.
GM spokesman Tom Kilpstine declined to comment on the strike’s financial effect on the auto maker. But David Garrity, a financial analyst with New York-based Smith Barney Inc., said the effect will probably be minimal.
“A strike of similar duration two years ago cost the company a nickel a share. Big deal,” Garrity said. “Am I going to get excited about that? No.”
Investors pushed the company’s stock price down $1.625 to $50.875 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Members of United Auto Workers Local 696 went on strike Tuesday over safety and job security issues, including the production of parts by outside plants or companies. Nearly 25,000 GM workers have been idled by the strike.
A three-day strike at the plants two years ago idled five GM assembly plants in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. By Thursday, six GM car assembly plants and two parts plants had been forced to cease production.
Jim Hagedon, GM spokesman in Dayton, said there were no full-blown talks Friday but that small groups of negotiators from both sides met in subcommittees to discuss issues. He would not say whether any progress was made.
Calls to the union were not returned. But Joe Hasenjager, Local 696 president, told WHIO-TV that the major issues are still on the table. He said talks would probably be held during the weekend, and estimated the strike would last at least until next week.
GM said in a statement that 6,500 workers at the Oshawa, Canada, assembly plant were told Thursday not to report to work until further notice. The plant makes the Buick Regal and the Chevrolet Lumina and Monte Carlo.
Raymond Deibel, a GM spokesman in Lansing, Mich., said second-shift employees at the Wilmington, Del., plant were sent home and the first shift was told not to report to work Friday. The plant, with about 2,650 workers, makes the Chevrolet Beretta and Corsica.
On Friday, a shortage of parts from Dayton prompted the shutdown of GM assembly plants in Lordstown, Ohio, and Shreveport, La. Assembly plants in Lansing and Orion Township, Mich., shut down after running out of parts during the second shift Thursday.
About 4,500 workers are employed at Lordstown, which produces Chevrolet Cavaliers and Pontiac Sunfires. The Shreveport plant employs 2,300 workers and produces Chevrolet and GMC S-series pickup trucks.
The Lansing plant, with 3,000 workers, produces the Buick Skylark, Pontiac Grand Am, Oldsmobile Achieva and Chevrolet Cavalier.
The 3,600-worker Orion plant produces the Buick Riviera, Pontiac Bonneville and Oldsmobile Aurora, 88 and 98.
An engine plant near Lansing that uses engine bearings from Dayton ceased production Wednesday. About 850 workers are employed at the plant. The strike also idled a GM seat-assembly plant in Auburn Hills, Mich. The plant employs 225 workers.
