DETROIT (AP) - There's hope among the striking workers outside
of American Axle's hulking Detroit factory complex, but along with it come
skepticism and fear.
The hope stems from General Motors Corp.'s surprise announcement Thursday
that it will throw in $200 million to help end the 10-week walkout, which has
crippled production of GM pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The skepticism and fear come from workers who've spent hours of picket line
duty talking about American Axle's quest to cut wages in half in order to match
the labor costs of its North American competitors.
On Friday, everyone was waiting for news of what they hoped would be a
sweeter deal than the ones they've been told about before.
"The seasons changed and we're still out here," said worker Jerome Lockhart,
34, of Romulus, just west of Detroit, who never expected the strike to last as
long as it has.
The walkout by 3,600 workers against American Axle and Manufacturing
Holdings Inc. began Feb. 26, back when it was cold and snowy on the walks
outside the factories just north of Downtown Detroit.
Now Lockhart, sitting under a canopy for shade on a warm spring Friday, is
thinking about how his family will get by if his pay goes from the present $28
per hour to $17, the last offer from the company before GM got involved.
"It's really going to be a difference in lifestyle," said Lockhart, whose
wife works as an accountant. "It's hard to really say you're ready for it."
American Axle is a small company that gets 80 percent of its business from
GM. It makes axles, drive shafts and stabilizer bars for pickup trucks such as
the Chevrolet Silverado, GM's top-selling vehicle.
Many of its U.S. competitors won deals from the United Auto Workers to pay
newly hired workers about $14 per hour. American Axle says it wants the same
contract.
But its workers say they won't take that big of a pay cut from a company
that made $37 million last year. The resulting standoff caused a parts shortage
that forced GM to fully or partially close 30 factories. Other auto parts
suppliers also had to lay off workers.
Industry analysts say the UAW expected GM to step in once its plants went
down, but high gasoline prices blew up that strategy. People stopped buying
pickups and SUVs, so GM still has enough of the big models to meet demand.
The union, the analysts say, went to its plan B, using local contract issues
to strike GM at the heart -- factories that make its popular new crossover
vehicles and the hot-selling Chevrolet Malibu mid-size sedan. The union, which
has threatened strikes at other factories over local contract disputes, denies
any link with American Axle.
Local plants negotiate their own operating agreements separate from the
national contract, which was settled last year.
Just before GM's announcement that it would kick in the $200 million, a UAW
local that had threatened to strike at a transmission plant in Warren reached a
deal. Later Thursday, a local at a stamping plant near Grand Rapids also
settled.
GM spokesman Dan Flores said Friday that negotiations continue at the
factory near Lansing that makes crossovers such as the Buick Enclave, and the
Malibu plant in Kansas City, Kan.
Talks also continued at American Axle, where workers were wondering how the
company will package the money from GM.
American Axle said Thursday that GM's cash is contingent on "expedited
resolution" of the strike, but Flores said he was unaware of any specific
deadline set by the automaker.
"We're hopeful this gets resolved sooner than later," he said.
GM said the strike cost it $800 million in the first quarter, and through
April, caused it to make about 230,000 fewer vehicles.
GM said in a federal regulatory filing that the American Axle money would be
used for buyout and early retirement packages, and for temporary annual payments
called "buydowns" that would help workers make the transition to lower pay.
Strikers who aren't near retirement and want to stay with American Axle say
they're waiting for the numbers to see if they can keep making their monthly
payments under the new deal. Union officials told workers last week that $90,000
in buydowns were on the table, paid out over three years.
Lockhart and his wife have crunched the numbers to see if they can put that
money into their mortgage, pay off their car loans and continue to keep the same
standard of living.
Other workers say there's no way they can make the mortgage payments and
take a 30 or 50 percent pay cut, especially after being on strike for so long.
"The consensus is by getting this money, we've got three years to look for a
job," says worker Steve Stewart, 51, of China, Mich., who has 31 years with the
company.
American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers and UAW spokesman Roger Kerson would
not comment on what's being discussed in negotiations.
Lockhart says all the talk about pay cuts and buyouts is upsetting, but he
has to prepare for the inevitable. He doesn't want a pay cut, but he also wants
to go back to work.
"I guess that's what it's going to be," he said. "I refuse to stay mad and
make being out here even worse."
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