About 50,000 workers from US automaker General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) took part in Monday´s biggest strike in more than a decade over a pay dispute.
More than 46,000 workers from 31 factories were shut down after talks between the company and the auto workers ´union came to a standstill during the negotiation of a four-year contract to guarantee workers´ jobs.
"The strike could last longer," Brian Ruttenberg, a spokesman for the influential union, told AFP, adding that only two percent of the issues had been reached.
"We should find common ground on 98% of the remaining issues," he said after the strike began at midnight on Sunday.
Negotiations are due to resume in the morning, union officials said.
Mobile officials said the two sides still disagree on wages, health care benefits, the status of temporary workers and job security.
Rothenberg said work at the company, which was saved by the administration of former US President Barack Obama in a multi-billion-dollar deal after the 2008 economic meltdown, was completely shut down.
After the strike, the company´s share price fell by 3 percent, according to CNBC News, which said the strike cost the company about 90 million dollars a day.
