DETROIT - About 13,000 U.S. auto workers have stopped making vehicles and headed for the picket lines.
Their leaders have been unable to bridge a giant gap between union demands in contract talks and what Detroit's three automakers are willing to pay.
The United Auto Workers union went on strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis simultaneously for the first time in its 88-year history.
The limited strike at assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri will likely chart the future of the union and of America's homegrown auto industry.
Canada's auto parts sector will be impacted by strike action taken by members of the United Auto Workers union in the U.S.
The president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association says if plants are shutdown in the U.S. and the strike is longer than a couple of days, production may have to be idled on this side of the border.
Flavio Volpe says because we are so integrated, it is going to have an impact on Canadian parts production.
"We ship around $35-billion worth of parts from Canadian factories and 48 per cent go to the U.S. for vehicle assembly. If plants are shut down in the U.S., a big portion of that 48 per cent are to the Detroit 3," he says.
Volpe says parts suppliers who send parts to the Detroit 3 may have to idle some production.
"The other side of the river, we've got 156 factories owned by Canadian companies, Canadian parts suppliers, who supply American production," he says. "Although they ship some of that stuff up to Canada because we're all completely integrated. They'll have a similar effect there."
One estimate says a strike lasting just ten days could result in a total loss of more than $5-billion in the U.S. alone.
With files from Patty Handysides and Rusty Thomson