Breaking...CNBC is showing footage of pickets outside select GM plants

UAW members have set up picket lines at certain Genral Motors plants in Michigan. A plant in Lansing and one in the Detroit area apparently has workers walking out.

The deadline was 11:00 AM Eastern time although GM and the Union are apparently still in a meeting.

CNN.com only has this story on their website - no breaking news banner...

http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/24/news/companies/gm_uaw_strikedeadline/index.htm?cnn=yes

cnn has em popping up in a couple of cities..

www.cnn.com

UAW begin picketing GM

Strike deadline comes without word of a contract agreement as 73,000 United Auto Workers union members reportedly start strike; talks said to continue.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
September 24 2007: 11:11 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The United Auto Workers union started picketing General Motors facilities at 11 a.m. ET Monday as the nation's largest automaker was apparently hit by a strike by 73,000 UAW members.

But negotiations were reported to be continuing, following nine days of extended talks that culminating in an all-night negotiating session right up to, and past, the deadline.

The previous contract between GM (Charts, Fortune 500) and the UAW had expired on Sept. 14, but UAW members stayed on the job at the nation's No. 1 automaker as negotiators tried to reach agreement on what is expected to be a groundbreaking agreement.

But late Sunday night, the union set an 11 a.m. ET strike deadline and issued a statement Monday saying that management had been unwilling to address the unions' key concerns on job security for the members at GM.

More at link... http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/24/news/companies/gm_uaw_strikedeadline/index.htm?postversion=2007092411

CNN is covering the story from it's corporate viewpoint: Poor GM, they can't compete if they live up to their agreement with the workers and pay their benifits.

GM's U.S. Workers Strike After Contract Talks Fail (Update2)

By Jeff Green and Bill Koenig

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp.'s U.S. factory employees went on strike nationwide for the first time in 37 years, after the largest U.S. automaker failed to reach a new labor agreement with the United Auto Workers.

The strike, confirmed by Frank Moultrie, bargaining chairman of UAW Local 22 in Hamtramck, Michigan, came 10 days after the union extended the old contract past its expiration while the two sides bargained.

The walkout reflected the collision between Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner's needs to cut labor and health-care costs, and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger's goal of protecting the pay and benefits of 73,000 union members at GM's U.S. plants.

The UAW hadn't called a nationwide strike against GM since 1970, when workers went off the job for 67 days. Since then, the union opted for strategic plant-by-plant strikes, some of which shut nearly all of GM's U.S. factories, the last in 1998.

More at link... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDkLYUoAlyhA&refer=home

I'm very proud of these people taking a stand. Very proud.