Shares of car makers General Motors and Ford fell early Thursday as the United Auto Workers deadline for authorizing more strikes approached.
GM traded down 0.3% in the premarket while Ford slipped 0.1%. Both have fallen about 15% since the start of the July, when the labor problems were surfacing. The impact of the strikes widened on Wednesday. GM said it had to lay off workers at a plant in Kansas where workers weren’t striking because of the disruptions in the supply chain.
Stellantis , a third company at which workers are striking, announced smaller layoffs but said production would continue. Its shares retreated 0.2% early Thursday. Stellantis made a fifth offer to workers Wednesday afternoon that the UAW is evaluating. UAW has threatened to expand the strike to more plants if Ford, GM, and Stellantis fail to make “serious progress” by noon ET on Friday. He said he would update members at a Facebook live event at 10 a.m. ET ahead of that deadline.