GM faces Thursday strike deadline for Ohio plant

DETROIT, May 13 (Reuters) - Union workers at a General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) metal stamping plant in Ohio have set a Thursday deadline for reaching a local contract or walking out on strike, a spokesman for the automaker said on Tuesday.

About 1,500 workers represented by United Auto Workers union Local 549 set a deadline of 10 a.m. EDT on Thursday in a letter delivered to GM Tuesday, GM spokesman Dan Flores said.

A strike at the GM stamping plant in Mansfield, Ohio, would be the third such work stoppage at the automaker. GM has been negotiating for months to complete plant-by-plant work agreements with UAW locals needed to implement a cost-saving national contract reached last year with the UAW.

UAW workers at two key GM assembly plants near Kansas City, Kansas and Lansing, Michigan, remain on strike in local contract disputes. Talks with representatives of bargaining units for both those plants were continuing Tuesday, Flores said. (Reporting by Kevin Krolicki; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)