American Axle’s Demand To Slash Workers’ Wages Could Cut 40,000 Jobs From U.S Payrolls in March

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/8214

By Doug Cunningham

If the UAW strike at American Axle doesn’t end soon, GM will be forced in April to shut down the first auto plant shuttered by the strike. GM has already stopped or slowed down production at 29 plants involved with making trucks, vans and SUV’s. UAW workers at American Axle are the victims of an assault by the company on their wages and benefits. Because the profitable American Axle wants to cut wages in half and slash benefits, as many as 40,000 jobs could be cut from U.S. payrolls in March according to economist Brian Bethune. Bethune says that would cut three tenths of a percent from U.S. economic growth this quarter.

[Double T]

1. The conversion of the middle class to the peasant class continues............

in order to maintain the opulent lifestyle of the corrupt filthy stinking rich. Slavery has returned to america, get used to IT or start an 'UNCIVIL' war!!

[DainBramaged]

2. This is going to be a bad fight for everyone concerned

Let it shutter GM, maybe they'll get the message and look for alternatives to ending the strike to survive.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-03-27-american-axle-strike-gm_N.htm

As auto supplier American Axle (AXL) enters its second month with much of its union-represented workforce on strike, the impact is spreading beyond General Motors' (GM) truck plants and now beginning to affect GM's car production.

Nearly 30 General Motors plants are affected in some way, with production slashed to just one shift or plants shuttered entirely. Much of the impact has been at plants making large trucks and SUVs that have been selling slowly in recent months as gas prices and the slowing economy take their toll on that end of the car market.

But as early as next week, GM's plant in Lordstown, Ohio, which makes the compact Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5, could close as well. On Thursday, GM told workers at a plant in Detroit that makes the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS sedans that the plant will be closed next week.

Talks broke down between American Axle and the United Auto Workers union in late February, and the strike began affecting GM, its primary customer and former parent, within days.

At issue is American Axle's labor costs. The auto supplier, which was spun off from General Motors in 1994, wants to slash its overall labor costs by $40 an hour. Renee Rogers, spokeswoman for American Axle, says the supplier pays $73 an hour for wages, pensions, health care and supplemental unemployment pay. The company wants to get that number to $20 to $30 an hour.