At 11 a.m. ET today the United Auto Workers Union called a national strike against Chrysler LLC when ongoing negotiations failed to arrive at a new contract agreement.

Thirty-one facilities including technical centers and factories will be affected involving 49,000 union workers.

Within 24 hours plants in Canada should also be idled as the stream of parts bleeds away. Approximately 9,000 Canadian workers would be effected in that event.

In the short term Chrysler will not face serious consequences from the strike as plans were already in place to slow operations in the face of poor sales and high inventories.

Analysts predict, however, that a strike of more than two weeks would have a negative effect as the brand does not have sufficient consumer loyalty.

Although negotiators worked around the clock to achieve an agreement, the union was unable to arrive at cost savings high enough to satisfy Chrysler, which is not in the position of needing to divest itself of as many health care liabilities for retirees as General Motors.

Sources indicate that Cereberus, Chrysler's parent company, is not ready to invest as much as $8 to $11 billion in cash for a union administered health care fund.

This issue, as well as points relative to job security, stalled the negotiations and could make for a longer strike than the two-day shut down against General Motors.