FLINT – A line of mostly pickups and SUVs stretched as far as the eye could see down Bristol Road, wrapping in all directions Monday morning around the Flint Assembly Plant as UAW picketers used their bodies to block GM salaried employees from getting to work.

By 5:45 a.m., a traffic crawl came to a standstill as dozens of UAW GM employees walked with signs at two key entrances just off I-75 — including a back entrance known as David Street used mostly by tractor-trailers just off the highway. Traffic backed up more than a mile in one direction and halted in two sections of Van Slyke.

Entrance gates on Van Slyke had been locked and chained Monday, so traffic had to be rerouted.

Tension grows

At the plant entrances, cars inched through one at a time with long waits in between as drivers of tractor-trailers, waste haulers and an ambulance passed the scene blaring horns. Teamsters have come out in support of the UAW workers.

Even though production workers are on strike, the factory is the job site for many white-collar employees who still must report to work.

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GM security monitored the situation carefully. One soft-spoken man who would identify himself only as "a GM supervisor" approached employees as he saw need and warned people to stay calm and be patient.

He warned a young woman who appeared to rev the engine of her Ford Focus after she used profanity at the workers and said she was late for her $11.50 per hour security job. She appeared to be in panic, using her cellphone to call someone to discuss the matter.

A GM worker asked the woman, whose window was rolled down, why she was driving a Ford. That just seemed to make her angrier.

James Fisette of Vassar, a fork truck driver at GM for 18 years, said just before 6:15 a.m., "We're just trying to slow down whatever they're doing in there. We're telling GM that we're not backing down. They are trying to get through and our people have been hit four times."

He said he appreciated the GM supervisor keeping people calm.

Worker 'bumped' by car

James Bothell of Linden, who builds motors on the assembly line for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, has worked for GM for 23 years and said he was one of the strikers "bumped" by a vehicle eager to get into the plant.

"Thing is, I think most of these people on salary get it — 95% are nodding their head as they pass by," he said. "I think a strike is long overdue, to be honest. In 2007, we opened up our contract and gave away a lot of things, like vacation days and cost-of-living increases and holidays."

A dozen drivers waiting in line to enter the plant, when approached for comment, declined to comment. They did confirm they weren't replacement workers and a few held up their badges.

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Jennifer Odun of Livonia, who builds motors on the engine line, indicated she was unsettled by the aggressive nature of some drivers in the vicinity of peaceful picketers.

As she spoke, truck drivers circled the area blowing their horns and shouting support.

"It's crazy," Odun said. "I've been with GM for 12 years and I've never seen anything like this. It's dramatic," she said. "What we do is a physical job. We need health insurance."

UAW workers have signed up for shifts as part of organized strategies designed to keep people from crossing the picket line. Talks resumed Monday after the contract with GM expired at midnight Saturday.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-222-6512 orphoward@freepress.com.Follow her on Twitter@phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.