GM Facing Production Losses in Oklahoma Strike

General Motors Corp. is facing its first production losses today from a strike at its Oklahoma City car plant as bargainers met Sunday in an effort to resolve the dispute.

About 3,500 UAW workers struck the plant early Saturday after a deadline for reaching a new local labor agreement expired. Bargainers met for several hours later in the day with no result.

Rick Jones, a spokesman for United Auto Workers Local 1999, said negotiations centering on staffing levels resumed Sunday morning, but there was no indication of any progress toward a settlement.

The walkout will prevent GM from resuming production of its new Chevrolet Malibu and Oldsmobile Cutlass cars at the plant, which is GM’s main production source for the cars.

Because the Oklahoma City plant is a final assembly operation, a prolonged walkout is not expected to have a widespread affect on GM’s North American operations, as a strike at a key parts plant would.

But the strike could force plants that supply parts to Oklahoma City, including those owned by GM and some outside suppliers, to curtail production.

The Oklahoma walkout is the latest of several local strikes that GM has been hit with or threatened with since it signed a new national labor contract with the UAW last November.