UAW President Shawn Fain to Rally with American Axle Workers in Michigan Ahead of May Contract Expiration

UAW President Shawn Fain will join UAW Local 2093 members at American Axle & Manufacturing (also known as Dauch Corporation) for a rally in Three Rivers to kick off the campaign for a record contract at American Axle. Official bargaining with the multi-billion-dollar corporation began March 23, and the current agreement expires on May 31.

WHO: UAW Local 2093 members at American Axle (AAM), UAW President Shawn Fain, UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes, Assistant Director Scott Zuckschwerdt, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, with other political, labor, and community allies and supporters

WHAT: Solidarity rally to kick-off contract negotiations

WHERE  Three Rivers High School, Performing Arts Center, 700 6th Ave, Three Rivers, MI 49093

WHEN: Sunday, March 29 at 1:00 P.M.

Influenced by the success of the UAW’s 2023 Stand Up Strike at Ford, GM, and Stellantis, American Axle workers are ready to make up for nearly two decades of lost wages and benefits. UAW Local 2093 members laid out their demands in a video released earlier in March, which include: no concessions, fairer wages and profit sharing, better health care, stronger retirement, and job security.

In 2008, workers at American Axle took major sacrifices to save the facility from closure during the Great Recession. Many long-time workers who were making as much as $29 an hour in 2008 saw their wages slashed to $14.50. Today, eighteen years later, workers are still yet to make up all that lost ground, with wages at American Axle currently topping out at $22 an hour after a five-year progression, with inflation-adjusted wages cut in half from their pre-2008 levels.

Meanwhile, since 2022, as a Tier 1 parts supplier to General Motors, American Axle has generated $2.9 billion in profits. Over that time, the company’s CEO has been paid $47.9 million, with the top five executives receiving nearly $100 million in compensation – while UAW members working at the Three Rivers plant struggle to afford basic needs, with some even forced to sleep in their cars.