For Release: Saturday, March 01, 2008

UAW members fight for jobs at American Axle

DETROIT - UAW members on strike at American Axle said today they are fighting to preserve good-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs at the company.

ï¿½Our union is a responsible organization, and weï¿½ve worked through complex problems at Chrysler, Ford, GM, Delphi, Dana and other companies,ï¿½ said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. ï¿½But negotiations canï¿½t be a one-way street.ï¿½

ï¿½We have repeatedly proven that we will work with this company, during these negotiations and during previous negotiations,ï¿½ said UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles, who directs the unionï¿½s American Axle Department.

ï¿½The plain fact is, the company has not appropriately responded to our significant and serious proposals, and thatï¿½s what caused this labor dispute,ï¿½ said Erv Heidbrink, president of UAW Local 2093, representing some 800 UAW members at American Axleï¿½s manufacturing facility in Three Rivers, Mich.

ï¿½Nobody likes a strike,ï¿½ said Heidbrink, ï¿½but the company continues to make unreasonable and unnecessary demands which attack our wages, pensions and health care ï¿½ and they havenï¿½t provided us the information we need to evaluate their proposals.

ï¿½Our members are getting terrific support from all over the UAW and weï¿½re standing strong,ï¿½ said Heidbrink. ï¿½Weï¿½re ready for serious bargaining at any time, and we want to get this dispute resolved as soon as we can.ï¿½

American Axle was created in 1994 when GM spun off five U.S. plants making axles and drive line components, employing approximately 6,500 UAW members.

Since 1994 industry-leading quality and greatly increased productivity in UAW-represented facilities has created significant profits for AAM, leading to expansion of the company to 29 facilities worldwide. But operations at facilities in North America covered by the UAW American Axle master agreement have been reduced, now employing approximately 3,500 workers.