GM faces Thursday strike deadline at Ohio plant

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (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 Thursday in a letter delivered to GM on 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 remain on strike in local contract disputes. Talks with bargaining units for both those plants were continuing on Tuesday, Flores said.

UAW Local 549 President Pam Drake could not be immediately reached for comment.

Union-represented workers at a GM Delta Township assembly plant near Lansing, Michigan, have been on strike since mid-April. That plant makes GM's new crossover vehicles, including the Buick Enclave, which have sold relatively well at a time when sales of larger trucks and sport utility vehicles have been under deepening pressure from rising gas prices and a weak U.S. economy.

Workers have been on strike since last week at a GM plant near Kansas City, Kansas, which makes GM's strong-selling Chevrolet Malibu sedan.

The Malibu, named car of the year at the Detroit auto show, represents GM's effort to break back into the market for mid-size sedans where Japanese rivals led by Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have dominated.