It's Over!

LLB12 · May 23, 2008

It's finally over! Seen this on Detroit (Auto) News. Posted on there at 1:00am

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../805230353/1148

Axle contracts approved

Local 235 members reluctantly vote for national, local deals

Eric Morath / The Detroit News

HAMTRAMCK -- United Auto Workers Local 235 voters approved the tentative deal with American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. Thursday night -- bringing to an end a bitter 87-day strike against the Detroit-based supplier.

The votes on the national and local contract were both approved, said Erik Webb, election committee co-chairman for UAW Local 235. More than 1,500 of the roughly 1,900 workers voted but the tally was not a landslide, he said. Among all five locals, 78 percent of workers approved the agreement, the International UAW said.

Renee Rogers, a spokeswoman for American Axle, confirmed that the national contract and all local contracts have now been ratified.

Workers were disappointed that the deal resulted in wage cuts and plant closings, but they wanted to see an end to the strike.

"I'm happy because I need to get back to work," said Scott Seymour, who voted 'yes' on the contract. "We all need to take that buydown money and pay our bills, and then figure out what's next for us."

Workers described the agreement as a "bitter pill."

The contract calls for the closure of a forge plant in Detroit, which employs 300, and another in New York, which employs 460. The typical worker at the Detroit Gear plant, which remains open, will take a $10 per hour pay cut and will pay more for health care.

Most of those workers, however, will receive either a buyout worth up to $140,000 to leave the company, or a buydown bonus worth up to $105,000, to stay at the lower wages.

Some 3,650 members from five locals struck American Axle Feb. 26 after their contract ended and the company asked for deep wage and benefit reductions.

"My membership is telling me they want to go back to work," Dana Edwards, shop chairman at Local 235 said Thursday night. "With the economy the way it is and truck sales the way it is, most people felt this is what they had to do."

The concessions that American Axle workers accepted, despite the company's $37 million profit in 2007, is unprecedented in the industry, but not necessarily a new pattern to follow.

"Other suppliers will want these kinds of wage cuts, but they may not be willing to endure a difficult 12-week strike to get them," said Harley Shaiken labor professor at University of California, Berkeley.

Even with the approval, tensions are likely to be high when employees return to work, Shaiken said. Plant closures will add to the complexity. Workers who move to new factories could create headaches with seniority lists and potential lost productivity as they adjust to their new surroundings and co-workers, he said.

The approval allows workers such as Tammie Weick to take the next step in their lives.

Weick, a mother of five from New Boston, said the strike convinced her to leave the automotive industry and seek a career in nursing, which she'll pursue while working at American Axle.

"I'm ready to move on," she said.

American Axle emerges from the strike in a better position operationally then it entered, said Mike Wall, an analyst for CSM Worldwide in Grand Rapids.

"They rationalized a couple of plants and rightsized the labor cost," he said. "Now they have to stabilize their North American operations ... and continue expansion in to emerging markets."

While workers are facing painful pay cuts, Wall said they can take some solace in the fact that reduced labor costs likely ensure a future that was bleak for the striking plants that will now remain open.

You can reach Eric Morath at (313) 222-2504 or [email protected]