No Contract, No Axles: UAW Local 2093 Members at American Axle’s Three Rivers Plant Will Walk Out on Strike After Company Fails to Propose Fair Deal

Video of UAW leadership making strike announcement

THREE RIVERS, MI – With American Axle failing to offer a fair contract before the expiration deadline, UAW Local 2093 members are set to launch an unfair labor practice strike at the Three Rivers plant beginning at midnight. Workers will walk out at 12:01 A.M. and additional picket lines will launch at 6:00 A.M. on Monday, June 1. Media are invited to join UAW Local 2093 members outside the plant at 12:01 A.M. and 6:00 A.M.

WHO: UAW Local 2093 members from American Axle/Dauch

WHAT: Launch of strike

WHERE: 1 Manufacturing Way, Three Rivers, MI 49093

WHEN: Walkout Monday, June 1 at 12:01 A.M.; additional pickets at 6:00 A.M.

In 2008, workers at American Axle took major sacrifices to save the facility from closure during the Great Recession. Many long-time workers who were making as much as $29 an hour in 2008 saw their wages slashed to $14.50. Today, eighteen years later, workers are still yet to make up all that lost ground, with wages at American Axle currently topping out at $22 an hour after a five-year progression, with inflation-adjusted wages cut in half from their pre-2008 levels.

In the last decade, as a Tier 1 parts supplier to General Motors, American Axle has generated $8.4 billion in profits. Over that time, the company’s CEO has been paid $111 million, with the top five executives receiving nearly $231 million in compensation – while UAW members working at the Three Rivers plant struggle to afford basic needs, with some even forced to sleep in their cars.

# # #

JF:sr:opeiu494afl-cio