GM to idle Detroit plant due to AXL strike

By Soyoung Kim

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to shut down a Detroit assembly plant on Monday because of parts shortages caused by a strike against a key supplier that have now idled almost half of GM's factory work force in North America.

The planned shutdown of the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant takes the number of GM plants partially or completely idled by the month-long strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc (AXL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to 30, GM spokesman Tom Wickham said on Friday.

The plant, which makes the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne sedans, will be the first car plant to be idled by the walkout at American Axle. Other idled assembly plants make trucks and SUVs such as the Chevrolet Silverado and the Hummer H3.

Wickham said GM would completely shut down the Detroit-Hamtramck plant although some workers would stay on for maintenance and repair. There is no immediate plan to shut down additional plants, Wickham said.

The Detroit plant employs about 1,850 hourly workers represented by the United Auto Workers union. In all, nearly half of its roughly 80,000 hourly workers in North America have been affected.

GM has idled facilities and laid off workers since the strike against American Axle began on February 26. American Axle, which was spun off from GM in 1994, is the exclusive supplier of axles and related components for GM's light truck line.

Joe Langley, an analyst at CSM worldwide, said without a settlement, GM's lost production would amount to nearly 160,000 vehicles by mid-April and 270,000 vehicles by the end of April.

GM's Lordstown, Ohio plant, which makes the Chevrolet Cobalt and Cadillac DTS sedans faces shutdown by the end of next week due to shortages of a brake component, Langley said.