BY HOLLY HARKNESS
DETROIT - United Auto Workers union negotiators reached a tentative contract agreement with American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM) early February 17, after having passed an initial February 14 strike deadline. Details of the agreement were not released.

AAM's five plants in Michigan and New York were sold to Richard Dauch and a group of investors in 1994 by General Motors as part of its "cost-cutting" plan. UAW workers at the plants continued to work under the 1993 GM-UAW agreement until this year. UAW members at all locations will review summaries of the contract and vote over the next week.

Labor and management in the auto industry are both closely watching to see if the new owners can wrest concessions from the union in the first contract since the purchase. According to the Free Press Automotive Writer, AAM "can't afford to pay" workers the "level of wages and benefits" equal to the Big Three pattern set at GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

The UAW and AAM have been negotiating this contract since last November. Both sides agreed not to speak publicly about the talks, but local papers reported that the company was pushing for a lower starting wage and a longer period of time before new workers reach full scale.

Hundreds of workers, many of them young people recently hired, turned out for Local 235's monthly union meeting February 16. That local organizes more than 3,000 UAW members at AAM's Detroit Gear and Axle facility. Speaker after speaker at the meeting expressed their willingness to hit the picket lines if the company continued to drag its feet in the negotiations. At the front of the room picket signs were stacked and ready in the event of a strike.

AAM workers build axles for GM's trucks and sport utility vehicles, as well as forging axle shafts for Ford.

Holly Harkness is a member of UAW Local 235 at AAM.  
 
 
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