If you want the attention of General Motors, you've got to hit 'em where it hurts. This morning, United Auto Workers Local 31 of Kansas City, Kansas, did just that by calling a strike at the Fairfax plant which builds the popular Chevrolet Malibu.
Unable to reach a local operating contract with GM, the union issued a work stoppage at 10 a.m., leaving production of the hot-selling sedan indefinitely halted.
Although several plants are threatening to strike the automaker, plants with successful products may have the most impact on the automaker. A plant outside Lansing, Mich., home of the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave and Saturn Outlook crossovers, has been stopped for nearly a month.
The Fairfax strike won't kill all Malibu output; a plant in Lake Orion, Mich. builds the Malibu alongside the Pontiac G6, and currently has a local agreement between the UAW and GM. Production ratios between the models could be shifted as a stopgap measure until an agreement is reached.
Source: Automotive News