American Axle Strikers Don’t Want UAW To Buckle As Some Production Moves To Mexico

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/8176

Lede: With the American Axle strike nearly a month old there’s no end in sight. Doug Cunningham has more on the story.

By Doug Cunningham

As 3600 UAW workers continue to walk the picket lines, American Axle has reportedly begun to move some of the work at its U.S. plants to Mexico. The strike has shut down 28 GM plants that depend on parts from American Axle. American Axle has demanded wages be cut roughly in half and it wants to end pensions and health care benefits for future retirees. A striker on the Detroit picket lines told the World Socialist web site that he has been a UAW member for 20 years and the union has to refuse to give in to American Axle.

: “My great-grandfather, my grandfather, my dad were all UAW. Now what they fought for 40 years ago is what I’m reaping the benefits off that now. So what we have to do as a union, and the international and locals, is stand up and keep that tradition going. We just can’t buckle. We can’t buckle.”

So far the strike has meant that GM has lost 100,000 vehicles worth of production volume. The UAW says the company has given it numbers it can’t validate and says it needs more information in order to accurately and effectively bargain over American Axle’s concession demands.

[sailor65]

1. I spoke to some colleagues at the Three Rivers Plant

a couple of days ago, and it does not look good for them. That plant's production has been targeted for Mexico production for a while now and they are on the hairy edge.