Most BL Ltd. workers OK 3.8% offer, end to strike

Most of the striking BL Ltd. autoworkers voted to end a three-day walkout that threatened to break the back of the struggling state-owned car maker. A spokesman for BL said most of its plants voted to accept a new pay deal hammered out by management and union leaders in an effort to head off the strike by 58,000 workers. They backed off from demanding a 20 percent raise and accepted the firm's 3.8 percent figure, plus higher bonuses.