Saturday, March 26, 2011
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS
General Motors will resume regular production at its pickup plant in Shreveport, La., on Monday, a week after the company shut it down and blamed a shortage of parts from Japan.
Falling supplies of auto parts have disrupted car factories around the world ever since a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11. That nation is a top producer of autos, and also parts, which aren’t reaching car factories because of earthquake damage, power outages and transportation problems.
Doug Ebey, head of the United Auto Workers local, said Friday that the 800 employees at the Louisiana plant will resume their normal four-day work week Monday. GM also confirmed the plant was reopening.
“We made the decision to restart Shreveport because we need to build trucks for our customers,” said GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter.