Canadian Strike Continues To Hurt Gm

General Motors Corp. shut down its giant Lordstown, Ohio, factory Thursday, idling 5,000 employees even as Canadian auto workers ended a three-week strike against the No. 1 automaker and began returning to their jobs.

The Lordstown plant makes the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire compacts, two of GM’s best-selling cars. They depend on parts made by GM of Canada Ltd., whose plants resumed production Thursday.

The Lordstown shutdown, the second and largest GM assembly plant to be closed since the Canadian strike began Oct. 2, increased the total number of GM workers on layoff in the United States and Mexico to 23,801.