Auto industry suicide

UAW workers strike GM
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The United Auto Workers launched a national strike today against General
Motors Corp. after 10 days of marathon bargaining failed to produce a
new labor pact for the automaker's 73,000 hourly U.S. workers.

The UAW hasn't staged a national strike against General Motors since 1970.

General Motors spokesman Dan Flores confirmed the strike but said GM
still hopes for a deal.

"We are disappointed in the UAW's decision to call a national strike.
Bargaining involves complex and difficult issues that involve the job
security of the U.S. workforce and the long-term viability of the company."

The union has called a press conference for 12:15 p.m. at its downtown
Detroit headquarters, Solidarity House. The UAW had announced late
Sunday it would strike the automaker if no agreement on a national labor
contract were reached by 11 a.m.

At 11 a.m. officials at Local 599 in Flint got on their cell phones,
called in plant reps and said, "Take them out."

A few minutes after calls were made, workers began streaming into the
local hall, where picket signs were laid out on folding tables in front
of huge murals that celebrate this union's militant background of
sit-down strikes and mass marches.

Local 160 in Warren represents about 2,200 workers at the GM Tech
Center. About 11:10, a convoy of GM vehicles and workers on motorcycles
began streaming into the union hall parking lot near 12 Mile and Van
Dyke roads.

Doug Cramb, 51, of Goodrich, is a 12-year GM veteran welder. He waved a
picket sign but said "I was hoping we wouldn't be striking. They were so
close on the weekend."

Other employees headed into the hall to pick up their strike assignments
and their blue-and-white picket signs.

"I'm kind of disappointed. I didn't want a strike," said Ida Hodgen of
Detroit, a 31-year GM employee. "I'm hopeful it doesn't last long."

One of the first employees to pick up his sign was Dave Tucker, a
22-year employee who was heading out for the first strike of his GM
career. "It needs to be done," Tucker said. "It is a big corporation
taking advantage of the people. I back my union 100 percent with
whatever needs to be done."

Employees brandishing signs formed a human barricade at one entrance to
the Pontiac Assembly Plant on Opdyke Road. They used their own bodies to
block a semi truck from entering and shouting, "Back up!" to the driver,
who eventually complied.

Workers leaving the plant helped the barricade by parking their cars
across the entryway. Some passing vehicles are honking support; others
are blaring their horns at the traffic obstruction.

The stunning move came after the union told its members on Sunday they
were to walk off the job unless they heard otherwise by 11 a.m. That
word never came, and now GM is facing its first strike since the UAW
struck the automaker's operation in Flint in 1998.

The union and automaker have been wrestling for weeks to reach a new
pattern-setting labor agreement for Detroit's Big Three automakers. The
UAW picked GM as the lead company to strike a deal the day before the
current contract expired Sept. 14.

Working under an hour-by-hour extension, GM and the UAW appeared late
last to week to have reached agreement on the most difficult issue in
the talks - the creation of a massive, union-run health-care trust to
cover medical bills for GM's 340,000 retirees and family members.

But the two sides apparently hit an impasse Sunday night after lengthy
discussions over the weekend on details of the trust, as well as wages,
job security and work rules.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger issued a harshly worded statement late
Sunday setting today's strike deadline.

"We're shocked and disappointed that General Motors has failed to
recognize and appreciate what our membership has contributed during the
past four years," Gettelfinger said.

Since bargaining for a new contract began in July, GM's mission was to
drastically reduce labor and retiree costs. The union's top priority was
maintaining U.S. factory jobs.

At the core of the talks was GM's proposal to unload $50 billion in
retiree obligation through a company-funded, union-run trust fund.

Across the regions, workers left their stations and reported for picket
duty.

By one minute after 11, retirees and officials from UAW Local 599 were
manning a picket line at GM's Flint Powertrain plant. Only 10 minutes
after the strike deadline had passed, a steady flow of the plant's 1,100
workers were streaming off the job into their cars and out to the
street. Autoworkers honked their car horns and waved fists in the air as
they passed picketers bearing signs reading, "UAW on strike."

"I'm kind of surprised," said Jessie Collins, a worker at the plant. "I
can't believe it's happening, but now that it is we're going to show
that we have strength."

Workers leaving the plant carried instructions about when and where to
picket for strike duty. By 11:25 a.m., the Flint plant's parking lot was
nearly empty, as the last few workers drove off.