On Sunday, UAW Local 2093 members at American Axle/Dauch Corporation voted 80% in favor of ratifying a new contract with the company. The deal secures the workers’ demand of $30 per hour by 2030 – a more than 36% increase to the top wage rate over four years – among other major contract gains at the Tier 1 parts supplier to GM. Workers returned to work at 6:00 A.M. Monday morning.
“UAW Local 2093 showed one thing to be truer than ever: strikes work,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “And American Axle proved something else to be as true as we’ve always known: the industry can afford our demands. From the time we walked off ten days ago to this tentative agreement, the company more than doubled the money on the table. Labor is our power and we can’t sell ourselves short in this economic crisis we’re facing.”
In 2008, workers at American Axle made major sacrifices to save the facility from closure during the Great Recession. Many long-time workers who were making as much as $29 an hour in 2008 saw their wages slashed to $14.50.
“When we began this journey, we didn’t know where it would lead, but we knew we had to square shit up,” said UAW Local 2093 bargaining chair Josh Jager. “We had our marching orders from the membership, and our rallying cry: $30 by ‘30. This contract delivers on that rallying cry.”
Beyond wage increases, workers also achieved gains in other core demands with more paid days off and without any concessions on their current health care costs, something the company insisted at the table couldn’t be done.
“Not only did they take care of the legacy people that were here and made the tough decisions back in 2008 to keep the place open, they took care of the people working there today,” said UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes. “They also took care of all the future generations that will come to work here in Three Rivers, Michigan, at American Axle.”
Over the ten-day strike, UAW Local 2093 members attracted the interest and support of local community and political allies from across the state, including Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, State Senator Sean McCann, Three Rivers Mayor Angel Johnston, U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, candidate for Michigan Attorney General Eli Savit, among others.
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