Pictured is the exterior of the the General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington, Texas. GM workers went on a nationwide strike yesterday, affecting operations at 82 plants. - AP

Thousands of United Auto Workers walked off the job at General Motors plants around the United States on Monday, in the first nationwide strike during auto contract negotiations since 1976.

GM spokesman Dan Flores said the union launched a national strike after the late morning UAW strike deadline passed without agreement on a new contract, which would include a groundbreaking provision establishing a UAW-managed trust that will administer GM's retiree health care obligations.

Workers began picketing outside GM plants. The UAW has 73,000 members who work for GM at 82 U.S. facilities, including assembly and parts plants and warehouses.

It remained to be seen what effect the strike would have on the automaker and consumers. The company has sufficient stocks of just about every product to withstand a short strike, according to Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for J.D. Power and Associates.

Supporting strikers

Charlie Coppinger, who has worked at GM's powertrain plant in Warren for 31 years, walked the picket line along with a handful of others shortly after the deadline passed. The 51-year-old said he hoped a strike could be settled quickly, but that union members were on the line to back the union and its bargainers.

Flores said the automaker is disappointed in the UAW's decision to call a national strike.

"The bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company. We remain fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing GM," Flores said.

GM had been pushing hard for the health care trust - known as a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA - so it could move US$51 billion (€36.1 billion) in unfunded retiree health costs off its books. GM has nearly 339,000 retirees and surviving spouses.

Costly for company

Worker Anita Ahrens burst into tears as hundreds of United Auto Workers streamed out of a GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Ahrens has seven years at the plant, where she works nights installing speakers in sport utility vehicles. She waited outside the building Monday for her husband, Ron Ahrens, who has worked there for 21 years. The couple has three children, including a college freshman, and Ahrens worried about how they would pay their bills.

While GM has enough cars and trucks to withstand a short strike - the automaker had about a 65-day supply of cars and trucks as September began, according to Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association - it still would be costly for the company.

The UAW last struck GM in 1998. In that strike, workers at two GM parts plants walked out for 54 days, costing the automaker US$2.2 billion. The strike, which occurred between years when national negotiations were held, was over work rules and GM's plans to eliminate jobs.

- AP