The leader of the union representing auto workers in Canada said thousands of factory employees will strike at two General Motors Co. plants if the sides miss a Monday night deadline for a new contract, threatening to disrupt the supply of engines that go into the company’s sport-utility vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported today. GM’s production of finished vehicles in Canada represents only a modest slice of the company’s sprawling manufacturing footprint in North America, but a strike would affect an engine and transmission plant in St. Catharines, Ontario, near Niagara Falls. That factory cranked out more than a half-million engines last year, delivering power for 15 percent of the vehicles GM sold in the U.S. last year, making the facility a potential choke point if production were suspended long enough.
