GM to idle 6 plants, Axle strike impact widens

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday two more assembly plants were running out of parts and would have to be idled as the impact from a week-long strike against supplier American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) widened for the No. 1 U.S. automaker.

Six GM assembly plants in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario, Canada, have either been idled or could be idled as early as Tuesday because of parts shortages, the automaker said in a statement.

The temporary factory closures mean 13,700 GM workers, or almost 20 percent of its blue-collar work force, could be laid off this week because of the strike against American Axle by the United Auto Workers union.

American Axle relies on GM for almost 80 percent of its sales and the GM plant idlings announced on Monday showed the impact of the strike-related shutdown of its U.S. plants starting to spread across the automaker's product line.

Last week, GM took steps to idle production of its GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks at four plants.

GM said on Monday it also expected to have to idle production at a Moraine, Ohio, plant that assembles SUVs, including the Chevrolet Trailblazer and GMC Envoy.

In addition, GM said it expected a Mishawaka, Indiana, plant run by Humvee maker AM General to run out of parts for its military-inspired Hummer H2 by Tuesday.

Other GM facilities at risk due to their reliance on American Axle parts include plants devoted to SUV production in Arlington, Texas; Janesville, Wisconsin; and Silao, Mexico.