American Axle Threatens Plant Closings As UAW Maintains Its Strike - 04/24/08

By Doug Cunningham

American Axle’s corporate annual meeting is underway today as UAW strikers threatened with plant closures by the company continue to walk the picket lines. GM is curtailing production at two more auto plants because it can’t get parts from American Axle. Roughly 48,000 GM workers have been affected by the strike, that's half their work force. American Axle is trying to slash wages in half and abolish future retiree pensions and health care benefits. UAW striker, Chris Workman says this is a fight for good American jobs.

[Workman]: "We are losing jobs at a fast rate and if we don't stop, this country is going to go into a recession, and a continued recession, because the jobs are not going to be here to keep buying the products anymore. NAFTA is killing this country."