Workers in Ontario, Ohio GM plant threaten to go on strike Thursday

DETROIT (AP) — Workers at a General Motors Corp. metal stamping plant in Ohio have threatened to go on strike Thursday in a dispute over local contract issues, a GM spokesman said Tuesday.

UAW Local 549 in Ontario, Ohio, near Mansfield has given the company notice that it will strike at 10 a.m. Eastern time, spokesman Dan Flores said.

The company and local have been negotiating for months over local contract issues, which govern such items as overtime, work rules and job duties.

A message was left for local president Pam Drake.

Local plants negotiate their own operating agreements separate from the national contract, which was settled last year.

The Ontario plant employs about 1,650 hourly workers, according to GM’s Web site. It makes hoods, doors, fenders and floor pans for many GM cars and trucks.

If it occurs, the Ontario strike would be the third against GM over local contract issues.

Workers at a factory in Delta Township near Lansing that makes GM’s strong-selling crossovers have been on strike since April 17. A UAW local at another plant in Kansas City, Kan., that makes the popular Chevrolet Malibu mid-size sedan has been on strike since May 5.