American Axle workers ratify agreement

Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. today said a tentative agreement reached May 16 with the United Auto Workers union, which represents about 3,650 workers at five facilities in Michigan and New York, has been ratified.

American Axle expects its plants to resume production next week.

The strike at American Axle, whose main customer is General Motors Corp., caused other plants to lay off workers, including: GM's Fort Wayne Assembly Plant; AM General's Hummer H2 plant in Mishawaka; a casting facility in Bedford; stamping plants in Marion and Indianapolis; an Explorer Van facility in Warsaw; and at Advanced Assembly in Columbia City, a seating plant operated as a joint venture by Lear Corp. and Comer Holdings.

About 78 percent of union members who voted at the five factories in Michigan and New York ratified the four-year accord, the UAW said in a statement.

The approval paves the way for GM to open 20 plants shut or partially closed because of parts shortages. American Axle will reduce some wages for its 3,650 UAW members by more than a third and pare its U.S. manufacturing presence while avoiding the bankruptcy filings that were the fate of other suppliers, including Delphi Corp. and Dana Holding Corp.

Under the accord, hourly pay will drop to a range of $10 to $26 across all five plants involved in the strike, according to a proposal distributed at a UAW meeting in Detroit May 18.

The base pay for production workers would be about $18 an hour, down from as high as $28.14. Worker contributions for health insurance would rise 3 percent annually starting in 2010.

American Axle will close a forge plant in Detroit and a factory in Tonawanda, N.Y., union leaders said at the May 18 meeting.

The company also will provide buyouts worth $140,000 to workers with more than 10 years of experience. Cash payments over three years adding up to no more than $105,000 are designed to soften the blow from lower wages.

Information from Bloomberg News was used in this story.