Automakers Pinched By Car Haulers’ Strike

A drivers strike at the largest car hauling company entered its fourth week Thursday with thousands of new vehicles stranded and some dealers facing a fall selling season cursed by dwindling supplies.

“I’ve got maybe five Jimmys left,” said Doree Hodges, sales manager at Jim Muir Olds-GMC Truck in Sterling Heights, Mich. “Normally I would have 35 at this time of year.”

About 5,000 Teamsters union members at the car hauling operations of Ryder System Inc. went on strike Sept. 7 over economic, job security and information sharing issues. The national contract between the union and the National Automobile Transporters Labor Division expired May 21. The NATLD bargains for Ryder and the other major carriers as a group.

Ryder’s biggest customer is General Motors Corp., but it hauls for all the automakers - normally up to 25,000 new vehicles a day.