General Motors Corp. has suspended development activities on vehicles at two major U.S. assembly plants as the United Auto Workers union has backed out of negotiations on cost cuts at the factories, labor and company sources said Thursday. GM, scrambling to trim labor costs in order to better compete in the United States with Asian auto makers, has requested so-called Competitive Operating Agreements at its Fairfax, Kan., and Lordstown, Ohio, plants. However, the UAW's senior leadership team has abruptly ended the COA negotiations at the two plants owing to disagreements with GM, according to people familiar with those talks.
See "GM delays vehicles at 2 plants on UAW cost-cut row", John D. Stoll, Chicago Tribune, April 26, 2007