Workers see faults in American Axle-GM deal

Around 3,600 auto workers have gone without paycheck for 80 days

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Data: MSN Money and IDC Comstock delayed 20 min.

updated 5:26 p.m. ET May 18, 2008

DETROIT - Most of the workers leaving Martin Luther King Jr. High School on Sunday were unhappy with the tentative agreement the United Auto Workers reached with parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.

Yet as they streamed out of the school after hearing details from UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and other union officials, many said they’ll vote for it anyway because it’s the best the UAW could do with the U.S. economy faltering and the company threatening to move jobs to other countries.

“It’s just a nasty situation,” said Curtis McCall, 45, of Detroit, an American Axle worker for 14 years. “You almost have no choice. If you vote no, then really you’re out in the cold.”

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Other workers said they want to keep their nearly 12-week-old strike going to hold out for a better deal. Several said there was a lot of screaming inside the meeting as more than 1,000 Detroit-area workers expressed frustration at facing a 34 percent pay cut if the contract is approved.

“I’m voting no. It’s totally unacceptable,” said Gary Reed, 52, of Warren, who criticized American Axle Chairman and CEO Richard Dauch for making millions while asking production workers to take a pay cut from $28 per hour to $18.50.

“It’s a slap in our face,” Reed said. “We’ve been watching this guy making millions and millions of dollars even while we’ve been on strike, and were going to accept a stab in the back and just walk away with a smile on our face?”

About 3,600 workers at five factories in Michigan and New York will vote on the contract starting Monday. A large Detroit local won’t vote until Thursday.

If approved, the deal could end the nearly three-month strike that crippled General Motors Corp.’s production of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, causing thousands of layoffs in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Workers at two key GM assembly plants went on strike over local contract issues during the American Axle strike, and industry analysts said the UAW struck to pressure GM to get involved in the American Axle deal. Union officials denied any connection.

The four-year agreement also closes American Axle’s Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y., forge operations.

The deal does give workers a $5,000 signing bonus, lump-sum cost of living adjustments and a variety of options to take money and leave the company.

After the meeting, Adrian King, outgoing president of UAW Local 235 in Detroit, said the session didn’t go well. Workers were angry about the deal, and their frustration was compounded by a malfunctioning public address system that hampered questions from the crowd.

“We had a lot of angry brothers and sisters,” he said. “It’s definitely a hard-looking contract, very tough pill to swallow for the membership.”

CONTINUED: “There will be a lot of unhappy people”

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