GM Demands Arbitration to Settle Strikes

General Motors Corp. on Wednesday turned up the legal heat on the United Auto Workers by demanding arbitration to settle two strikes on grounds the walkouts violate the union’s national contract.

GM said late in the day that it filed a grievance Tuesday with the union’s international leaders, seeking unspecified damages and requesting a response within 48 hours.

The auto maker, which has now idled 146,400 nonstriking workers in North America because of parts shortages, also said it will protest paying state unemployment benefits in all of the states where workers have been forced off the job because of the two parts plant strikes in Flint, Mich.

“General Motors has taken additional steps to further protect its financial position and expedite an end to this costly and senseless strike,” Gerald Knechtel, vice president of North American Personnel, said.

About 3,400 workers struck the metal stamping plant on June 5, and 5,800 more workers struck a second GM parts plant in Flint on June 11. Shortages from the plants have halted or curtailed output at 26 of 29 North American assembly plants.

The strikes are estimated to be costing GM upward of $75 million each day in lost profit.

In its statement, GM said the strikeable issues identified by the union are “contrived,” adding that “the real issues that led to these costly disputes are ones that the union has agreed to be nonstrikeable.”