By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -General Motors said Monday it was indefinitely laying off about 160 workers at plants in Indiana and Ohio because of the impact of the United Auto Workers strike on some facilities.
The UAW on Friday said it would strike at GM’s Lansing Delta Township assembly plant that makes the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs after previously striking at GM’s Missouri assembly plant and 18 parts distribution centers.
The Detroit automaker said last month it had been forced to idle its Fairfax, Kansas plant because of a parts shortage stemming from the strike, resulting in 2,000 indefinite layoffs.
The new GM furloughs include 130 at its Parma, Ohio Metal Center and 34 at its Marion, Indiana Metal Center.
UAW President Shawn Fain on Friday expanded the first-ever simultaneous strike against the Detroit Three to a GM Lansing plant and Ford Motor Chicago assembly plant, but Stellantis was spared after last-minute concessions by the Chrysler parent.
JPMorgan said in a research note Monday it estimated the strike has cost GM $191 million and Ford $145 million but said there was some cause for optimism about a deal “including that the two sides being reportedly close on pay and benefits.”
The UAW strike on Monday was entering its 18th day after the chief executives of GM and Ford blasted the UAW on Friday, hours after the union escalated the strike.
“It’s clear that there is no real intent to get to an agreement,” GM CEO Mary Barra said late Friday, while Ford CEO Jim Farley said the union was holding a deal “hostage” over a dispute over future electric vehicle battery plants. The UAW responded on social media that neither CEO had attended bargaining talks.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, editing by Ed Osmond and Bernadette Baum)
