GM workers hit the picket lines...

It's too early to predict how long the strike will last or what type of an impact it will have on the Toledo area, but it is easy to predict that if the strike is not resolved quickly it will hurt the Toledo economy. We are already experiencing higher unemployment rates than some of the other parts of Ohio and a high home foreclosure rate as well.

It appears that the management of GM thought the workers were bluffing:

After 20 straight days of negotiations, the UAW had imposed an 11 a.m. deadline in a bid to finalize a deal. But the union-imposed cutoff was dismissed as a mere bargaining stunt until workers started filing out of plants.

"GM walked right up to the deadline like they really didn't care," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.

Outside manufacturing plants thousands of union auto workers were hoisting placards that read: "UAW on Strike."

It is the first nationwide strike against the U.S. auto industry since 1976.