Some 2,800 UAW Local 909 workers at the GM Powertrain plant in Warren Mich., struck early July 22. The plant, which makes transmissions for many General Motors Corp. front-wheel-drive vehicles, could idle the company's North American operations within a week, say analysts. Another strike at the Delphi Interior & Lighting Systems plant in Anderson, Ind., affecting 2,380 Local 663 members, has been delayed as contract negotiators were closing in on an agreement, reported the Detroit Free Press.
Those actions came soon after General Motors ended a 94-day strike at its Pontiac East truck assembly, GM Truck Validation Center, and GM Truck Engineering in Pontiac, Mich. The facility makes Chevrolet C/K and GMC Sierra full-size pickups. The more then 5,900 autoworkers of UAW Local 594 ratified a contract on July 19, with 93.5% voting in the addition of 557 new employees. UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker continued to blast Gm after the settlement, calling the strike a case of "corporate greed, corporate nonsensitivity, and corporate commitments unkept"
