Strikes

The writers strike ended two months ago. But many in Hollywood remain on the brink. Some are at risk of losing their homes. Some can't afford groceries. Others have filed for bankruptcy. Still others struggle to work enough hours to hold on to their health insurance. Across Los Angeles, many crew members who work behind the scenes and on the sets of television shows and movies are still quaking from the temblor of the 100-day writers strike that shut down scripted TV production.

Workers for American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. approved a contract Thursday that cuts wages and shuts two plants, ending a 12-week strike that idled production at its largest customer, General Motors Corp. A majority of the 3,650 United Auto Workers members at five plants in Michigan and New York voted to approve a four-year agreement that will reduce wages and provide buyouts to workers who agree to quit, said Adrian King, president of union Local 235, which represents workers in Detroit.

General Motors Corp.'s stock dropped almost 5% after the company reported that strikes at some of its plants and parts supplier American Axle will cost the automaker about $2 billion before taxes in the second quarter. GM also expects to produce 230,000 fewer vehicles in the quarter because of the nearly three-month American Axle strike, which crippled its production of large sport utility vehicles and pickups. The other strikes will cost it 33,000 vehicles.

Spain got tough with striking truckers who have disrupted food and fuel supplies, deploying riot police to lift blockades of a border crossing with France and a major highway outside Madrid, and making dozens of arrests. But unions representing the strikers vowed to continue the protests over rising fuel prices. The auto industry warned that if the stoppage continues, production will halt because parts are not reaching factories.

Protesters freed 48 police officers they had held hostage, but Peru was still struggling to end a weeklong blockade over mining taxes. Residents of Moquegua province have occupied roads and severed access to the Ilo smelter and Cuajone mine of Southern Copper Corp. to demand that their province receive a bigger share of taxes paid by the company. Meanwhile, workers at the Cuajone mine started a two-day strike for better benefits.

An atmosphere of crisis and tumbling confidence has enveloped Argentina after five years of political stability and robust economic growth. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is facing a rancorous farm revolt in one of the world's major grain- and beef-producing nations. Growers on Saturday ended their fourth strike this year, but the battle rages on more than 100 days after it erupted when the government imposed new tariffs on farmers selling grain abroad.

Hollywood studios made a "final offer" late Monday to the Screen Actors Guild hours before their labor contract with the largest actors union was set to expire. The offer included benefits similar to those granted to writers, directors and the industry's smaller actors union, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers told Bloomberg News.

The University of California's 8,500 service workers will go on strike Monday, union president Lakesha Harrison said. "The workers are fed up," said Harrison, whose union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents 20,000 university employees. He said the strike will go forward despite a temporary restraining order issued by a San Francisco judge. The service and healthcare employees have been without a contract since last year. -- Gale Holland

Hundreds of service workers at the University of California's 10 campuses and five hospitals began a five-day strike Monday in a dispute over wages. University officials reported "minimal impact" from the walkout by custodians, cooks, healthcare workers and other employees. Campus shuttles were idled at UC Berkeley and cafeteria hours were curtailed at UC Irvine, but patient care was not affected at any of the university's five medical centers, they said.

A five-day strike by patient-care and service workers at the University of California ended Friday, drawing support from some state politicians but no new contract offer from university officials, union officials said. State Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge) addressed hundreds of picketers at noon Friday outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, according to union spokesman Mario Fuentes. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 represents 11,400 patient-care workers and 8,500 custodians, groundskeepers and cafeteria workers at the UC's 10 campuses and five hospitals.