Workers at American Axle and Manufacturing Inc. in Detroit
ratified a three year contact by 97%, the United Auto Workers
(CAW) announced last week. The contract covers some 7,200 workers
in five plants in Detroit, Three Rivers, Buffalo and Tonawanda,
N.Y. The contract is said to be similar to UAW's national
contract with General Motors.
The plants were owned by GM until 1994 and the workers have
been operating under their old GM contract under new management.
The privately-owned American Axle had argued for lower wages to
make it more "competititve" with other independent suppliers.
Under the old contract wages averaged $22 an hour. The new
contract gives the workers an immediate $2,000 bonus and three
percent raises in September 1997 and 1998. It also includes a
guarantee that the company will maintain at least 95 per cent of
its union jobs, "with some major exceptions for an economic
downturn and other unforeseen circumstances," a news release
says.
American Axle makes rear and four-wheel-drive axles,
propeller shafts, steering linkages, anti-roll systems,
stabilizer bars, differentials and a variety of forged products.
The company also has a plant in St. Catharines, Ont., that is not
covered under the UAW contract.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
