The ongoing strike by US workers has led General Motors (GM) to halt production at its pickup and transmission plants in Silao, Mexico, temporarily laying off 6,000 workers. 

On 16th September, about 48,000 members of United Auto Workers union (UAW) went on strike asking for higher pay, greater job security, a bigger share of the leading US automaker’s profit and protection of their healthcare. 

Recently, General Motors made a new comprehensive offer to end a two-week-old strike, however, UAW rejected the offer. According to them the automaker came up short on several fronts including wages, healthcare and temporary workers. The union has highlighted that there are still many important issues that remain unresolved. 

Last week, GM had idled engine production at the Silao facility , temporarily laying off 450 workers. These job cuts were in addition to the layoffs of about 3,200 GM manufacturing workers in Canada and 525 hourly employees at the automaker’s jointly operated DMax engine facility in Ohio.

If the strike continues GM’s troubles will increase. While GM continues to negotiate and exchange proposals with the union, the production at the factory suffers and affects the job of many workers. Considering the risks of U.S. economy slow down, both the parties must soon come to a conclusion, otherwise both might suffer more. 

As per the latest update, the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted in September to its weakest level in more than a decade. Further, the stocks fell broadly and GM’s share price was down more than 3 percent. These are all signs that GM must take action quickly and come up with a plan that suits the needs of the union to a desirable extent, or as per analysts the strike could cost GM over $1 Bn.