Nearly 1,000 UAW members walk out at American Axle

THREE RIVERS, Mich.—At a minute past midnight on Monday, nearly 1,000 members of United Auto Workers Local 2093 walked off the job at the American Axle plant in Three Rivers. The strike came after months of negotiations failed to produce a contract acceptable to the workers here—and after the company spent weeks trying to intimidate these same workers into backing down and folding.

They didn’t.

“Time’s up,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in announcing the walkout, directly addressing American Axle’s management. “For 18 years, union members built you an empire of profit while getting treated like dirt.”

The workers at American Axle—a Tier 1 supplier that makes axles for GM’s Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks—know that feeling all too well. Back in 2008, when the auto industry was on the brink of collapse, they took a massive hit to save the plant from closing.

Wages that had been as high as $29 an hour at the time were slashed to $14.50. Their pensions were frozen, and the hated two-tier wage system was imposed on them.

Eighteen years later, top pay at the plant has only crawled back to $22 an hour—and that’s after a five-year progression. Adjusted for inflation, workers are still taking home about half of what they earned before 2008. Exploitation has significantly deepened, and workers are feeling the squeeze, with some reporting that they had to sleep in their cars because the pay is so low.

“We did what we had to do to save the company,” said Josh Jager, bargaining chairman at UAW Local 2093. “Now it’s time for the company to do what they have to do.”

Meanwhile, American Axle has pulled in $8.4 billion in profits over the last decade. CEO David Dauch pocketed $111 million over that same period, with the top five executives taking home nearly $231 million combined. Dauch’s compensation in 2024 alone—$11.2 million—was 215 times the median pay of the workers who actually built the products.

In the weeks leading up to the contract deadline, management tried to scare workers from walking out and attempted to break their spirit. On April 13, the company called local police to remove off-duty workers who were handing out union literature, buttons, and stickers at the plant entrance. Management threatened them with termination and trespassing charges.

That’s a direct violation of federal labor law. The National Labor Relations Act explicitly protects workers’ right to organize. In response, the UAW filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against the company.

“We are well-aware of our federally protected right to organize, speak out, and stand together, and we are going to exercise those rights all the way through,” Jager said in response. “We will not be intimidated by corporate bullies when we are the ones who spent years building this company back up.”

UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes said: “Calling the police on your own dedicated workforce for holding union flyers isn’t just a violation of federal labor law—it’s a desperate attempt to bully workers into submission. But that’s not going to work with UAW Local 2093 members. These workers are going to stay strong for a record contract.”

‘We’re gonna fight like hell’

The strike authorization earlier this month sent an unmistakable message to American Axle— 98% in favor, with only 2% opposed—that the workers are ready to fight back.

Workers at the kickoff rally back in March made clear why they were ready to walk. “American Axle bosses run us to the bare bone, keep dumping more and more work on us,” said worker Mark Hicks. “After all these years, I’m tired of the crap. As long as we can stick together and have solidarity in this union, I think we can improve our way of life.”

Fain, who led the UAW’s 2023 Stand Up Strike against the Big Three automakers, has been clear that this struggle is about workers at more than just this one plant.

“These companies make billions of dollars off of our members’ work,” he said. “And after we give decades to these companies, we’re asking for something simple: the right to a dignified retirement.”

Speaking more broadly about the political moment for the working class, Fain connected local strikes like this one to a national fight against the entire billionaire class.

“Twelve billionaires own as much wealth as the bottom half of society,” he said at a labor conference this year. “Our democracy is dying at the hands of an authoritarian billionaire class. The question we are here to answer is, how do we rise to the occasion? This is our defining moment.”

American Axle is a critical supplier for GM’s most profitable trucks. As People’s World reported last month, a GM car can’t run if its wheels don’t have axles. The Flint Assembly plant, which builds the Silverado and Sierra, could be idled if this strike isn’t settled.

That gives the workers leverage. And they intend to use it.

“We will not be intimidated, we will not be ignored,” Jager said. “Just like members of the Big Three, we made major sacrifices, and we’re done being left behind.”

Picket lines went up at 6 a.m. Monday outside the plant at 1 Manufacturing Way in Three Rivers. The UAW is inviting media and supporters to join the workers on the line.

For the nearly 1,000 members of UAW Local 2093 walking out, without a fair contract, there will be no axles. Like the rest of the working class in the U.S., after decades of falling behind while the capitalist class raked in billions on top of billions, they say they’re not going anywhere until they get what they’ve earned.

“It’s our time, and we’re coming for ours,” Fain declared at the March rally. “Are you ready to square shit up?”

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