By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — United Auto Workers members at American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM) in Three Rivers will officially go on strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
In a livestream video Sunday night, UAW Local 2093 said a new collective bargaining contract between them and AAM (also known as Dauch Corporation) could not be agreed to before their current contract expired Sunday night.
“UAW family, as of midnight tonight, UAW Local 2093 will be on strike at American Axle,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “We’ll stay out on strike until this company comes to its senses and treats these workers with dignity and respect.”
The strike comes after more than two months of negotiations between Local 2093’s bargaining committee and representatives from AAM. As previously reported, according to union leadership, workers have been seeking a number of demands in this round of contract talks: no concessions, fairer wages and profit sharing, better health care, stronger retirement, and job security. On May 12, union workers overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if the two sides could not come into agreement.
It is the first strike by Local 2093 since May 2008. That 89-day strike, union leadership and its membership say, was a watershed moment in the relationship between the union and AAM.
According to the union, workers made “major sacrifices” in the 2008 contract negotiations to save the Three Rivers facility from closure during that time period, giving the example of workers that made $29 an hour at the time seeing their wages slashed to $14.50.
Now, union representatives said, wages at the Three Rivers plant currently top out at $22 an hour after a five-year progression, with inflation-adjusted wages they say have been cut in half from pre-2008 levels. All the while, they say AAM has generated $8.4 billion in profits in the last decade, with their CEO, David Dauch, making $111 million and top executives making nearly $231 million in compensation in that same timeframe.
“We did more than save them, we’ve made them billions of dollars. Tonight, it’s about getting our fair share. We paid the price, now it’s time we reap the benefits,” Josh Jager, a member of Local 2093’s bargaining committee and an employee at AAM since 2002, said.
Representatives from AAM and Dauch Corporation did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
In the livestream, Jager also noted AAM’s alleged treatment toward workers during the negotiation period, behavior that led UAW to file a federal Unfair Labor Practice complaint against the company back on May 5. One of those incidents involved the police being called on off-duty union members handing out flyers, buttons and stickers back in April.
“They have tried to intimidate us, harass us, calling the police on us for exercising our First Amendment right,” Jager said. “We will not be intimidated. We will not be ignored. Just like members of the Big Three, we made major sacrifices, and we’re done being left behind.”
Fain reiterated in his comments that the international UAW has the backs of Local 2093 in their contract negotiations, and that for American Axle, “Time’s up.”
“For 18 years, these members have built you an empire of profit while getting treated like dirt. They’ve taken wage cuts, benefit cuts, they poured their souls into this plant. They’ve missed birthdays, graduations, time with their families to provide this company with axles that keep this company and several auto assembly plants running,” Fain said.
Finally, Fain praised the Local 2093 bargaining committee for their efforts and solidarity thus far, and guaranteed the “full force” of the UAW as they strike for a new contract.
“American Axle, time is up. No contract, no axles. And to the members at American Axle Local 2093, I’ll see you on the picket line at midnight,” Fain said.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
