COMPANIES

Strikers Picket GM Plant: About 3,200 auto workers walked off the job at a General Motors plant in Baltimore, saying layoffs have made the minivan plant an unsafe place to work. Members of the United Auto Workers union brought production to a stop when they left their jobs at 10 a.m., a top union official said. About two dozen workers, some carrying picket signs, took up positions in front of the plant’s five gates. The last time the union struck the plant was in 1970 as part of a national walkout. The union says 400 people were laid off in February, leaving those behind with dangerous working conditions. The union also says the firm is unjustly restricting vacations.