UAW Strikes GM Fairfax Plant

The United Auto Workers union strikes General Motor Corp.’s Fairfax, KS, assembly plant, which produces the hot-selling Chevrolet Malibu sedan.

The strike could clip 662 units of daily Malibu production, Ward’s estimates. The plant also builds 279 Saturn Aura sedans per day.

The UAW threatened to strike the plant last month but agreed to extend the contract deadline as negotiations to forge a new plant-level labor deal continued. The plant employs some 2,420 hourly workers, says GM spokesman Tony Sapienza.

GM reached a national agreement with the UAW last fall that included a 2-tier wage system and a retiree health-care trust managed by the union. But local agreements, which still are outstanding at several GM sites, address plant-specific work rules.

A call to the UAW seeking comment was not immediately returned.

GM’s Delta Twp., MI, assembly plant, which produces the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook cross/utility vehicles, has been idled since April 17, when workers walked off the job due to lack of a local agreement.

The auto maker is trying to avoid strikes at three other plants that have yet to reach agreements, Sapienza says. The list includes a stamping plant in Grand Rapids, MI, a transmission facility in Warren, MI, and a stamping plant in Mansfield, OH.