United Auto Workers threatened to strike at five General Motors (GM) plants across the United States. This move adds to the woes of an already crippled GM, after a strike at one of their suppliers American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (AXL). Last year, GM reached a four-year national contract with the UAW. However, till now the GM management has not reached an agreement with more than 70 union locals on issues such as ‘work rules’.

UAW locals from Arlington,Texas; Delta Township, Michigan; Warren, Michigan; Parma, Ohio; and Flint, Michigan intend to issue GM a five-day strike notice if progress isn’t made on local issues. GM, despite of reaching on a national deal with the UAW on issues such as wages and benefits will have to negotiate further with the locals on issues such as work rules and seniority. (more…)

Amid the rising fears of an economic recession, the U.S automobile market has been bludgeoned with a steep decline in the sales figures as well as the profit margins of major automobile firms for the month of March. The demand for trucks and SUVs have declined sharply as the consumers have been hesitant  because of sky rocketing gas prices, mortgage crisis and tightening credit . The only categories that survived the slump have been the small, fuel-efficient vehicles.

There was drastic fall in the sales percentage of various automobile giants. General Motors Corporation’s (GM) sales fell by 19%, Ford’s sales dropped 14% and even a concrete brand like Toyota saw its sales dropped by 10%. Compared to March 2007, this is a bloodshed. Chrysler dropped 19%,  Nissan saw a drop of 4 % and Honda reported a loss of 3%. Speculations doing rounds in the  automobile community suggest that, this downward slope might be here to stay and could get worse in the near term. (more…)