American Axle to suppliers: Be ready to resume production
UAW STRIKE AT AMERICAN AXLE
American Axle to suppliers: Be ready to resume production
Automotive News | April 25, 2008 - 11:30 am EST
DETROIT — American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., enduring an 8-week UAW strike, told its suppliers today to prepare to resume production.
Company purchasing chief Michael Flynn said in a memo that all suppliers “should be ready to resume work by ensuring they have sufficient finished goods and raw material in place to support a smooth start to production.
“It has been more than eight weeks since the start of the Feb. 25 work stoppage,” Flynn wrote in an e-mail obtained by Automotive News. “As negotiations continue to evolve, American Axle and its suppliers should be prepared to resume production once the work stoppage is over.”
American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers said the notice was a “routine letter” sent to remind suppliers to be ready once production resumes. She said “it’s not an indication of anything beyond that.”
Strike issues remain unresolved
The memo does not suggest what would give rise to the resumption of production.
It could be a new contract with the UAW, the hiring of replacement workers whom American Axle has solicited, or the moving of tools to other factories.
Flynn told suppliers that American Axle wanted to avoid any potential quality issues at startup, especially given that many suppliers have halted their American Axle production for two months.
About 3,650 UAW workers are striking American Axle at five U.S. plants. They refused to take dramatic pay cuts that company CEO Richard E. Dauch repeatedly has said are necessary for American Axle to compete against lower-cost rivals, such as Dana Holding Corp. Dauch said at the company’s annual meeting Thursday, April 24, that the UAW’s last proposal called for wages and benefits well above market rates.
American Axle wants to pay workers at component plants half the $28 an hour paid to workers at the plants where full axle systems are made. A source also told Automotive News at a UAW rally Thursday in Detroit that the company wants to pay nonproduction, noncore workers half what production workers earn.
The strike has shut or hampered 30 General Motors plants. Especially hard hit are GM’s light-truck assembly plants. American Axle makes about 80 percent of GM’s light-truck axles.
