GM Strike in Canada Hits U.S. Workers

General Motors laid off at least 1,850 U.S. employees Monday as a Canadian Auto Workers strike began to have an affect on the auto maker’s domestic production.

The U.S. workers were sent home because the parts they make for Canadian plants aren’t needed; 1,050 of the layoffs were at a GM Powertrain plant in Tonawanda, N.Y., near Buffalo, said GM spokeswoman Darla Park.

A transmission plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., had 800 layoffs, she said. The Tonawanda plant employs 4,000 and Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti employs 5,500.

“We knew sooner or later it was going to impact us,” said Chuck Zurawski, president of United Auto Workers Local 735 that represents workers at the Ypsilanti plant.

The Canadian strike began Wednesday by 15,000 auto workers in Oshawa, Ontario, and St. Therese, Quebec, and spread Sunday to a St. Catharines, Ontario, plant where about 5,300 CAW members walked out.

The New York workers make six-cylinder engines for Chevrolet Luminas and Monte Carlos assembled at GM’s Oshawa, Ontario, plant. The Willow Run workers make a variety of transmissions for Canadian-built vehicles, Park said.

Among their biggest concerns is the company’s proposed “outsourcing”--giving more work to outside contractors.

Talks Monday morning between GM and the CAW were “tough” but brought no change, Jane Armstrong, a CAW spokeswoman, said from Toronto.

Meanwhile, bargaining continued Monday on the American side of the border between the United Auto Workers and GM.

“Progress has been made, and we continue to have some open and constructive dialogue,” GM spokesman Chuck Licari said.

Reg McGhee, a UAW spokesman, said the Canadian strike has no role in U.S. contract talks. “Not much has changed here,” he said.

Tom Klipstine, a GM spokesman, said he does not expect the Canadian strike to have any effect at major assembly plants until possibly next week.