By Doug Cunningham

The UAW has reached a tentative agreement with American Axle after an 11 week long strike. The union confirms that the tentative agreement has been reached.

The UAW will hold a meeting in Detroit Sunday to explain the agreement to the workers at Detroit’s American Axle plant. Meetings will also be held with workers at American Axle’s plants in New York and in Three Rivers, Michigan.

More than 3600 workers went on strike after American Axle demanded deep wage cuts and an end to future retiree pensions and health care benefits.

The strike demonstrated worker power by shutting down or curtailing production at dozens of GM factories, costing the automaker at least a billion dollars and causing thousands of layoffs at GM.

UAW President Ron Gettlefinger had said that American Axle was trying to “crush” its workers. GM had offered up to $200 million to help settle the strike. American Axle was once part of GM and 80 percent of the company’s business now is supplying auto parts to GM.

Workers at American Axle must vote to approve the tentative agreement to end the strike and get back to work. The strike was one of the longest auto strikes in the UAW’s 73 year history.