 Employees worked on Monday with no new contract |
United Auto Workers (UAW) union members at General Motors will have to work without a new contract again on Tuesday after negotiations were adjourned. The two sides broke off talks in Detroit on Monday evening and will resume later on Tuesday.
GM's 73,000 UAW employees worked as usual on Monday, despite their contract having expired on Friday night.
The talks are important because the UAW's contracts with Ford and Chrysler will be based on the GM agreement.
The three Detroit-based carmakers are trying to cut costs as they attempt to recover from combined losses of $15bn (�7.5bn) last year.
Competitiveness
GM, Ford and Chrysler say that their workers, on average, cost them more than $30 an hour more than Toyota's.
They want staff to give up some of their expensive benefits such as pensions and health insurance to improve their overall competitiveness.
Any tentative agreement between GM and the UAW will have to be ratified by a majority of GM's 73,000 hourly workers.
If no agreement can be reached, union leaders might tell their members to walk out, but they are seen as more likely to set a deadline for strike action some time in the future.
One-Minute World News 
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