General Motors paralysed by strike

Disgruntled staff streamed out of General Motors factories across the US yesterday as the country's main car workers' union called a nationwide strike in a protest over healthcare benefits and job security.

The stoppage is the US's biggest industrial walk-out for seven years and has brought the world's second biggest carmaker to a virtual standstill, halting production of brands such as Chevrolet, Cadillac, Hummer and Buick. It poses a potentially devastating obstacle to the cash-strapped company's hopes of reversing losses of $2.2bn (£1.1bn) last year.