Obama made his first public comments about the American Axle strike last Thursday in Macomb and then, suddenly, there’s an agreement.  I highly recommend seeing the video and listening to what he says about American Manufacturing jobs:

Let's take a look at the "agreement" after the bump...

There is a tentative agreement between AAM and UAW, not many details as of yet. Buffalo Cheektowaga facility to stay open, Tonawanda Forge to close, don't know much more yet, details will be released Sunday morning. WSBT DTV reports "A spokesperson who was briefed on the agreement says the auto part supplier has boosted its wage offer and increased payments it will give workers to take a wage cut."

Not much else is known, there is a running news feed of the American Axle strike in the original story at Joe's Union Review, I'm sorry I cant get it to work here

AP's reporting a tentative deal

American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. boosted its wage offer and increased the payments it will give workers to take a wage cut as part of a tentative agreement that could settle an 11-week strike by the United Auto Workers union, a person briefed on the deal said Saturday.

more on the flip

About Freaking time!!

General Motors said Thursday that it had agreed to give as much as $200 million to a parts supplier, American Axle and Manufacturing, to help settle a 10-week strike that has reduced or halted production at 32 G.M. factories.

Way to step up GM, way to freaking step up!!  More from the New York Times

There's movement at AAM, but it doesn't really seem that good.  There appears to  be a framework now between the UAW and American Axle (AAM).  And that Framework may include local agreements:

from Freep:

More than two months into the UAW's strike at American Axle & Manufacturing, it appears that the two sides have pulled together a potential framework for a settlement, which likely will include buyouts, buy-downs in exchange for lower wages and the closure of at least two plants.

A settlement potentially would shed American Axle's national UAW contract, replacing it with individual agreements for the surviving plants, said people briefed on the talks.

I get one diary a day on here, damnit.  From Chokeholds in Detroit to Lock outs in Van Wert Ohio, there simply isn't enough time in the day to remind all of us that our jobs do matter. That work matters. That we matter.

So, this morning, I opened my e-mail and found that UNITE-HERE is struggling to make jobs in Canada matter at the Men's Warehouse.  You see, Men's Warehouse has decided to close their factory and move.

Yesterday, families and strikers mounted a rally in Detroit to highlight American Axle's desire to screw their workers while continuing to reap huge profits and dishing out million dollar bonuses to CEO and other executives.

And despite more than 37,000 workers off their jobs, 3650 American Axle Workers on strike, more than 30 plants shut AND 3 different countries affected, we still have nothing From Obama, Clinton and Mr. No-Right-To-Work-tax-your-benefits-anti-EFCA-McSame.

Not a    F   U   C   K   I   N   G     Word. Not one!

So, the union and other allies, families and friends, put together a rally.  And then things went horribly bad.

I know, I know, another American Axle story?


Since they've been on strike now for 3 days short of 2 months, or for those counting...


57 days


To be honest, this is a diary because it's incredibly important and needs to be brought up, over and over and over again.  Maybe then, a few might put some pressure on the candidates to address the strike and the THOUSANDS currently out of work because of the strike and not because they are actually on strike.


Okay, so let's get to the meat of today's bit of gloom and doom...

Well, looks like GM may finally enter the fray on American Axle and Dick Dauch’s resolve not to negotiate, from CBS channel 3 News in Michigan:

(NEWSCHANNEL 3) - It looks like striking American Axle workers will stay on those picket lines a little longer.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says the company didn't do much negotiating with the union over the weekend.

He says he's not sure when they'll actually reach an agreement.

Crossposted on  Uniongal

Today, it's official, another US manufactoring plant has gone on strike.  This time, a little more reporting on it and a link to the American axle strike, too.

I wonder why it is that Gibson and Stephanopoulos  couldn't clear the crap from in front of their eyes long enough to see that this kind of crap, is really why we're bitter.  And I'm damn bitter about HAVING to STRIKE and Being Locked OUT!!

There are days when I think, I’m not getting through.  That I’m just talking for talking sake.  Then there are the days when my 14 year old reminds me that not only does it sink in, but that she’s learned from the example I have created for her.

Today she e-mailed me to ask questions about the Democratic Party’s platform for a paper she’s been assigned.  The assignment:

what are the platform issues and what is the party doing to ensure adoption of the platform issues?

Okay, I give her a few ideas off the top of my head:

I have been watching the American Axle strike and now I'm also following the strikes at CBS (Aramark run Cafeteria) and the LOCK OUT in Van Wert, Ohio.

So, what do these things have in common?  I think it's money.  Not necessarily the cost of labor or the cost of benefits.  It's about taxes, trade, environmental standards, in short, it's about the American Way.

More on the flip...

American Axle and the UAW are back to talking, 7 weeks after the strike began, and according to the AP, it might mean an end is finally in sight:

The United Auto Workers has given American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. a proposal dealing with economic issues, a local union official said Wednesday as formal negotiations aimed at ending a six-week strike resumed.

A union leader could not give details of the proposal.

"We're just waiting for a response," said Adrian King, who leads a local at the company's Detroit manufacturing complex and sits on the bargaining committee.

More?

Yesterday, on my blog (Women, Unions and Our Stories), I wrote about Dick Dauch and outrageous executive pay.

As the economy continues to slow, the housing crises continues to develop, home prices continue to fall, gas prices continue to go up, and the cost for just about everything in our lives rises from rice to wheat to a glass of milk...well it's on this vein that Warren Brown at the Washington Posttook the owner, Dick E Dauch, and his top executives, to task for, well, being complete asses...

more on the flip

So, they've done it.  After 5 weeks (beginning of week 6), American Axle has decided that it wants scabs.

Frank Williams of The Truth About Cars picked up the story last night from CBS (print/web version)

Employment offered to applicants responding to this advertisement will be to fill anticipated attrition replacement openings after negotiations or in place of employees involved in this strike.[Emphasis added.]

More on the flip side

When strikes are called, they are the last resort for the union and workers.  It usually means that the companies are pushing for things the workers just can't accept.  In the case of American Axle, this strike is a problem for this country, not just these workers, but nothing has been heard from these candidates.

American axle is asking its HOURLY workforce to take up to a 60% pay cut but won't talk about management and executive salaries and perks.

From the Detroit Free Press (virtually the only source of news on the strike)

On Feb. 26, 3,650 UAW members at American Axle went on strike after negotiations on a new contract collapsed. The company is seeking to cut wages and benefits in half, saying it needs to cut labor costs to compete with other suppliers that have won concessions from their unions.

The UAW, which has said it needs more data to substantiate those demands, argues the cuts are too steep for a company that is not in bankruptcy and made a profit last year.

please help on the flip

Dick Dauch, chairman and chief executive officer of American Axle & Manufacturing, lashed out Wednesday at UAW leaders for striking his company and refusing even to discuss what Dauch said was already a pattern of lower wage-and-benefit deals already reached with Dana Corp. and other direct AAM competitors.

We are fighting for the absolute survival of AAM in America," Dauch said in an interview one month after a walkout by 3,600 hourly workers at AAM plants in Michigan and New York.

"We have the flexibility to source all of our business to other locations around the world, and we have the right to do so," Dauch said, in a not-so-veiled threat. AAM has plants in Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia.

"We will not be forced into bankruptcy in order to reach a market-competitive cost structure in the United States. If we cannot compete for new contracts in the U.S., there will be no work in the original plants," Dauch said, referring to operations in Detroit, Three Rivers and in the New York towns of Tonawanda and Cheektowaga.

Don't you just love American Axle's CEO, Dick E. Dauch?

Years and years ago, I was a kid (no jokes, please) and my dad went on strike.  There had been rumors that the shop was going to close down and move to one of the Carolinas, but nothing was more than just a whisper in the wind.

I remember that year.  Dad served as the secretary of his United Steelworkers of America local. Mom worked as a waitress while dad held down two tool and die maker jobs.   I remember that it was crisp and smelled like rain.  

I also remember the day the shop closed, and I remember my dad sitting on the fireplace's stones, crying.  Mom just ushered us out and until we picked up the last ham and turkey from Valu King from the union guy, it never really sank in.  I knew though, when the union guy hugged my mom and she let a tear fall, I knew then.