A strike by General Motors workers at two parts plants is close to bringing operations at the world's largest automaker to a halt and shows no signs of ending.
The 10-day-old walkout at the Dayton, Ohio, brake plants has crippled three-quarters of GM's North American assembly plants and idled about 110,000 workers in the United States, Mexico and Canada.In addition, some of the more than 1,600 companies that make parts for GM cars have begun laying off workers.
Business also will probably decline at the companies that provide raw materials and components for parts and at thousands of GM dealerships where customers won't be able to get specific models or options because of the lack of new vehicles.
"More than a percent-and-a-half of the gross domestic product is going off line," said David Cole, director of the University of Michigan's Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation.
By Wednesday, 21 of GM's 29 North American assembly plants had stopped building cars and trucks because they had run out of parts made at Dayton. Six parts plants were also forced to shut down.