GM hit by strike at SUV plant

DETROIT: Production of General Motors Corp.'s popular crossover sports utility vehicles ground to a stop Thursday after workers at one of the automaker's Michigan factories went on strike.

GM is already suffering from the loss of pickup and truck-based sports utility vehicle production because of a nearly two-month long strike at a key supplier, former subsidiary American Axle and Manufacturing Holding Inc.

Thursday's strike by workers at GM's Delta Township plant was the latest salvo in a spreading battle between the United Auto Workers union and General Motors and its suppliers.

"It's just crazy," one GM official who did not want to be named told AFP. "Everybody was expecting a big blowup during national negotiations last fall and it didn't happen. But now you have this."

Earlier in the week, the UAW approved a strike against Alliance Interiors, a small supplier that feeds parts to the Delta Township plant, forcing GM to curtail production of the Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia.

The UAW also launched a strike on April 11 against a GM plant in Warren, Michigan which makes transmissions for a variety of GM passenger cars.

The historic national contract the UAW and GM signed last fall specified that both sides still had to work out the details of local contracts, which traditionally have controlled staffing levels and other important issues.

Sean McAlinden, vice president of research at the Center For Automotive Research, said GM had been trying to use the local negotiations to reduce staffing and to re-classify more jobs as "non-core," which means GM can fill them with employees making half the standard contract wage of 29 dollars per hour.

GM spokesman Dan Flores said the management at GM's Delta Township assembly plant is continuing to talk with the UAW representatives.

"I can confirm we are (still) talking with the UAW. I just can't comment on the issues," he said.

The union has not commented publicly on the walkout but there has been speculation it could be trying to pressure GM into helping resolve the American Axle dispute.