Buffalo Business First, February 27, 2008, Wednesday

Buffalo Business First

February 27, 2008, Wednesday

Buffalo Business First

AAM strike ramifications examined
Business First of Buffalo - by Thomas Hartley Business First

Two unanswered questions hung over the strike against American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. as it entered a second day Feb. 27.

§ Could the walkout seal the doom of the company's two remaining Buffalo-area facilities where about 600 people work?

§ What impact would a lengthy strike have on other auto industry plants in the area such as General Motors Corp.'s engine plant in the Town of Tonawanda?

The walkout by the United Auto Workers union started Feb. 25 after the union's four-year contract expired at midnight Monday.

Collective bargaining broke off and no schedule has been set for talks to resume.

The sides are said to be far apart and UAW Regional Assistant Director Kevin Donovan said the union is waiting for the company to move next.

The company, through spokeswoman Renee Rogers issued a statement saying American Axle's negotiation team "remains at the negotiating site and are ready to resume negotiations at any time. They are simply waiting for word from their union counterparts."

A lengthy strike is possible, Donovan warned.

The union has filed unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board against American Axle, alleging that it has not bargained in good faith.

With production ended in December at the company's Buffalo plant, where more than 1,000 employees worked, the future of the forge plant in the Town of Tonawanda and a machining operation in Cheektowaga is uncertain.

Contrary to posing a threat to those facilities, the agreement eventually settling the strike could actually save them, said Arthur Wheaton, industry education specialist for Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations.

"From information I've seen from the union, one of the offers on the table includes the closing of the Cheektowaga and Tonawanda operations and one of the company's forges in Detroit," he said.

"I don't think it is accurate to say the strike could hasten their closing. It has a better chance of saving them," he said.

Concerning the strike's possible impact on GM's Tonawanda engine plant, spokeswoman Mary Ann Brown said there would only be a problem if an assembly plant that it supplies were to shut down or cut back production.

"We don't get anything from American Axle. They are not a supplier to us, so there wouldn't a direct affect. I have no idea which assembly plants they send product to," she said.

A reduced production schedule at GM's Shreveport, La., assembly plant led to a two-week layoff for 100 hourly employees working on the inline 4 engine. They will be return on March 3, she said.

Meanwhile, about 170 production workers are on permanent layoff: 130 since last summer when Plant 5 was idled in preparation for the new diesel engine production scheduled to start in third quarter 2009, and 40 whose jobs were eliminated after GM canceled a new V-8 engine project in January of this year.

A portion of those on permanent layoff will be recalled when diesel engine production begins.

An unknown number of others are expected to return in the next several months. How many will depend on the number of UAW members accept buyout packages being offered in March, Brown said.

The plant has 1,800 employees, including 1,520 hourly workers.