Strike in Michigan Threatens GM Pickup Production

Nearly 1,000 workers at a Tier 1 supplier to General Motors (GM) have gone on strike, which could impact the U.S. automaker’s pickup production at its plant in Flint, Michigan, according to local media reports.

The decision was announced last Sunday night during a conference convened by Local 2093 of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, led by the organization’s national leader, Shawn Fain.

The striking employees work at a plant located in the city of Three Rivers, owned by American Axle and Manufacturing, a company founded in 1994 that changed its name last January to Dauch Corporation, in honor of its founder Richard E. Dauch, leader of a group of investors who acquired the assets from GM to launch the business.

American Axle produces axles for the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra Heavy Duty—both of which roll off the assembly line in Flint. These models have generated US$8.4 billion in profits for GM over the past decade, according to the UAW.

During that period, the company’s CEO has received a salary of US$111 million, while the top five executives have received nearly US$231 million in compensation, according to Fain.

However, the UAW leader asserts that American Axle workers made “significant concessions” to prevent the plant’s closure during the Great Recession of 2008, with veteran employees seeing their wages cut nearly in half, from US$29 to US$14.50 an hour, while the current top wage for operators at the plant is US$22 an hour.

“This company has made US$8.4 billion over the past decade while some of its workers sleep in their cars,” Fain said. “We will remain on strike until this company comes to its senses. No contract, no axles,” he declared.

In response, Dauch spokesperson Chris Son called the work stoppage at Three Rivers “disappointing.”

“The company believes that the best outcomes for everyone—our employees, the union, and the company—are achieved at the negotiating table,” Son said in an email to the local press, in which he reaffirmed that there is a “commitment to negotiate in good faith with the union, and we hope to reach a fair agreement soon.”

The strike could halt the assembly of more than 1,000 trucks per day at the Flint plant in the coming hours due to GM’s just-in-time production model, reports indicate.