UAW 'ready to go' at Lordstown if impasse reached Saturday, September 15, 2007Frank BentayouPlain Dealer Reporter
The United Auto Workers announced just after midnight Friday that contract talks with General Motors Corp. would be extended on an hour-by-hour basis.
Union leaders representing 4,100 employees at GM's Lordstown plants were still preparing for a strike pending the outcome of the talks. The UAW's contract with the nation's largest automaker expired at midnight Friday.
"Oh yeah, we're ready to go," said Jim Graham, president of UAW Local 1112 at the Lordstown assembly plant, reached at 12:30 a.m. "I've got 400 people here."
Local 1112 represents some 2,400 workers at the assembly plant who make Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s. The company has indicated that both vehicles will end production after the 2009 model year.
Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. both agreed earlier this month to contract extensions, according to union and company officials. GM was the only one of the Big Three automakers that did not.
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