As General Motors plant workers around the country walk the picket line tonight, senior UAW and GM officials continue to work on negotiating a labor agreement that is amenable to both sides.

"We are disappointed in the UAW's decision to call a national strike," wrote GM on its Manufacturing and Labor Resources website. "The bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability of the company. We are fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing General Motors. We will continue focusing our efforts on reaching an agreement as soon as possible."

While few details – other than job security and benefits – have been cited as the reason for the strike, workers at the former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee have even more at stake. "Some 3,600 workers remain bitterly divided over a local seniority issue that could sway many to vote against any new national contract," reported Nashville's Tennessean newspaper last week.

According to the paper:

"The issue dates to the opening of the Saturn plant in 1990 and the months before that when many workers from GM plants in California and Michigan were persuaded to move to Middle Tennessee to work at Saturn by the promise that they'd never be laid off. Fast-forward to today, and that promise has disappeared amid mounting financial losses for GM, numerous plant closures and thousands of worker buyouts over the past two years. Many at Spring Hill want any new labor deal that's crafted nationally to give back to them their pre-Saturn years of in-plant General Motors seniority, which would move them higher up the ranks for the best job assignments locally and give them more protection in case of future layoffs."

Spring Hill employees fear that "additional union members from other plants [will be brought in] when the plant reopens to build a new vehicle next year," reports the newspaper. "Workers on both sides of the debate worry that these workers could squeeze some longtime Spring Hill workers with less seniority out of job assignments."

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Source: Tennessean