Associated Press has reported that negotiators from the United Auto Workers and American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. reached a tentative four-year contract agreement on Thursday, Feb. 27 covering about 6,500 hourly workers, ending a day-old strike at the auto supplier. In the report, Wendy Thompson, president of UAW Local 235, which represents workers at American Axle's Detroit Axle and Detroit Forge plants, was quoted as saying that workers at plants in Michigan and New York were expected to be back on the job Friday afternoon. The agreement still would need to be ratified by union members.
The strike included workers at plants in Detroit and Three Rivers, MI; and Buffalo, Tonawanda and Cheektowaga, NY.
Workers took to the picket lines after the UAW's previous four-year contract with American Axle expired at 11:59 p.m. EST Feb. 25 without an agreement.