Striking American Axle workers Don Wood, left of North Tonawanda, with his pooch Casey
and Bob Sniadecki, of Wheatfield attend an informational strike at the Tonawanda Plant.
American Axle has resumed contract talks with the UAW today, but according to UAW Region 9 Director Kevin Donovan, the company still has not disclosed information that is vital to negotiating in good faith. As long as that is the case, Donovan said the unfair labor practices strike will continue.*
- GM Strike Update 3-7-08 9:19PM
DAYTON, Ohio--Talks between the United Auto Workers and American Axle and Manufacturing ended Friday evening with no agreement.
Negotiators are trying to end an 11-day strike that has affected dozens of factories in Canada and the U.S., including Ohio and the Miami Valley.
The talks are schedueld to resume at 9 a.m. Saturday.
General Motors officials say parts shortages from the strike would force them to shut down part or all of 28 assembly and components factories.
17 parts plants were added to growing to the growing list today and the affected plants employ more than 37,000 hourly workers.
GM was already planning to shut down its engine plant in Moraine on Monday.
WYOMING -- The impact of a strike at American Axle is growing and affecting others in West Michigan.
General Motors is now calling layoffs at its plant in Wyoming a partial shutdown. Operations at GM factories around the country are being hampered by those who walked off the job in late February at American Axle in Three Rivers and other locations.
One hundred fifty employees have been laid off at the Wyoming plant following the strike at American Axle. Many standing up for those strikers today are taking a stand for their own tomorrow.
"They end up losing their strike and they end up losing their pay, it's probably gonna happen over here, so we support them over there," Timm said.
The affected 17 GM plants are scheduled to go on partial shutdown on Monday.
Automotive analysts suspect this impact could be extensive.
"There could be some suppliers that could really be in trouble, simply because they're highly leveraged and they're heavily tied to General Motors, and they've seen their volumes drop off," said Erich Merkle, of IRN Inc.
The mood remains optimistic at the Wyoming plant, but concern weighs heavily in the air about the future of manufacturing.
"Pretty frustrated and upset. But I don't know what we can do about it. Just support our union brothers. When they go on strike, we gotta support 'em," said Timm. "We want you to keep going, do what you gotta do."
NY - - The two week long United Auto Workers strike at American Axle has finally touched the General Motors' Powertrain Plant in the Town of Tonawanda. The plant will lay off 24 workers starting Monday.Most Recent News on American Axle Strike by Google News below
Workers on the second-shift involved in making the crank for the Inline 5 engine, built in Flint, Mich., that is used in the Hummer H3, said Mary Ann Brown, spokeswoman for the GM Tonawanda plant.
“We sent that engine to Flint to make room for the new products, but we kept the crank assembly,” Brown said. “Because that goes in the Hummer H3, it’s been affected by the strike.”
The layoffs are only anticipated to last one week, but the strike will ultimately dictate demand for the product and the need for the workers who make it.
This is the 19th plant GM has been forced to idle or slow production at due to the United Auto Workers strike at American Axle, which began Feb. 26. The affected GM plants employ more than 27,000 hourly workers.
The UAW and American Axle resumed contract talks today, but UAW Region 9 Director Kevin Donovan said the company still has not disclosed information the union deems vital to negotiating in good faith. As long as that’s the case, Donovan said the unfair labor practices strike will continue.
North Tonawanda Resident Don Wood has been a millwright at the factory for 12 years and said the strike has become about more than the hourly rate.
“This isn’t about money and health care anymore,” Wood said. “It’s about keeping jobs in this country.”
Local leaders like Congressman Brian Higgins and State Senator Antoine Thompson assembled to show their support, and Erie County Legislator Michele Iannello, D-Kenmore, told the workers to stand strong for proper treatment.
“We need to keep jobs, but we need to make sure you’re being paid what you’re worth for these jobs,” Iannello said.
1 comment:
American Axle workers should reject the sell-out agreement reached by the United Auto Workers union and fight to mobilize auto workers and the working class as a whole against the corporate attack on wages and jobs.
Under the tentative deal reached on Friday, wages will be cut from $28 an hour to $18.50, with so-called “non-core” workers receiving $14.55 an hour. Workers at the Three Rivers, Michigan plant will earn even less, under a separate agreement breaking up the national contract.
These near-poverty wages will be used as a new benchmark by the Big Three automakers and other corporations, which are intent on making auto workers pay for a slumping economy and falling car sales.
A real struggle against the corporation is only possible if workers break from this pro-company organization and develop a new form of struggle. American Axle workers should elect rank-and-file committees, led by trusted militants, to take the conduct of the strike and negotiations out of the hands of the UAW bureaucracy.
An appeal should be made to workers at GM, Ford, Chrysler, Delphi and other companies to carry out an industry-wide strike to overturn the pattern of wage-cutting agreements signed by the UAW. A special appeal should also be made to Canadian auto workers facing similar attacks on jobs and living standards and the treachery of the Canadian Auto Workers leadership.
Mass picketing must be organized to oppose Dauch’s threats to bring in strikebreakers, and demonstrations should be called to rally the widest support in the working class for this fight.
This industrial mobilization must be combined with a new political strategy. The fight at American Axle is part of a struggle that the entire working class confronts against the capitalist profit system. After producing vast fortunes for corporate CEOs, hedge fund managers and other financial speculators, the capitalist system is in the midst of an economic crisis, which threatens to produce another depression.
To fight against these conditions, the working class needs its own political party—independent of the corporate-backed Democrats and Republicans—that aims to reorganize the economy to meet the needs of working people, not the wealthy elite. The auto industry and all the basic levels of the economy should be put under public ownership and the democratic control of working people.
The destruction of decent-paying jobs in the United State and the shifting of production to low-wage regions in Mexico, China and elsewhere must be answered through a fight to unify the working class internationally against the globally-organized auto giants. Workers everywhere have a common interest in securing decent jobs and living conditions.
The rejection of this sell-out should be the beginning of a counter-offensive by the working class. The key question, however, is leadership and political strategy. We urge workers to study the history and program of the Socialist Equality Party and build the SEP as the new revolutionary leadership of the working class.
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