More than 200 UAW workers laid off at GM Toledo plant amid strike

TOLEDO, Ohio (FOX 2) - More than 200 workers at GM’s Toledo Propulsion Systems were laid off in the latest ripple effect of the UAW strike, now in its third week.

In today's latest rundown, auto industry members say no sales have been impacted yet in the third quarter for GM and Stellantis and Ford Motor Company is saying it has submitted it's seventh - and strongest offer.

But spirits are anything but down for union members FOX 2 spoke with.

"Man, we can keep this going forever," said one Stellantis worker in Toledo. "The energy and the people here."

Stellantis workers picketing across town say they aren’t phased by the new GM layoffs, which follow union leadership expanding their protest last Friday.

"The layoffs are part of the process," he said. "We’re all taking a cut. Everybody’s taking a cut.

What did we give up in 2008? The unions gave up their lives. Their pensions."

The UAW gave GM a counteroffer after directing more than 2,000 workers at Delta Township Assembly in Lansing to walk off the job, but how much that offer moves the needle - if at all, remains to be seen.

GM did say their third-quarter sales were up more than 21 percent with pick-up trucks and SUVs, despite the ongoing strike.

"Well surprisingly so far the strike has had very little impact on both sales and prices in the marketplace," said Tyson Jominy.

Jominy, the vice president of Data & Analytics at JD Power, spoke about the impact of the strike on current sales, including a Stellantis report saying their sales dipped in the third quarter. Jominy says it’s still early.

"So we still expect it to be about mid-October before we start to see some of the changes," he said. "The first plants the UAW targeted were primarily midsize pick-up plants - Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado and others.  Those already had an extraordinarily tight supply for that segment so it’s hard to see that right away. "