From Ohio History Central
On March 5, 1996, three thousand workers, members of the United Auto Workers, went on strike at two General Motors (GM) parts plants in Dayton, Ohio, causing GM production facilities across the United States to close.
The striking workers opposed General Motors' practice of contracting work out to non-GM plants, a violation of the GM workers' contract. They also hoped to gain job security, as GM had been closing plants throughout the 1990s.
Due to a lack of parts caused by the strike, GM plants across the United States shut down. By the end of the strike's first week, nearly seventy-five thousand GM workers were idle. The company was losing nearly fifty million dollars per day due to all of the plant closures. The strike ended on March 22, 1996, when the workers and GM reached an agreement, which included a promise that the two Dayton plants would not be closed in the near future. The strike was one example of the fears of workers that their jobs were in jeopardy because of increasing attempts by automakers to cut costs in the 1990s.