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UAW workers at a Three Rivers, Michigan, plant that supplies axle components for General Motors’ full-size trucks went on strike Monday after negotiations between the union and the supplier, Dauch Corp., formerly called American Axle, failed to result in an agreement.
Workers on May 12 had approved by a vote of 98%, according to the UAW, to authorize the strike if an agreement wasn’t made by May 31, when their contract expired.
Jay Korf, a UAW Local 2093 member at the supplier, which is still widely referred to as American Axle, was among those who voted to give the union the power to strike and told the UAW, “We’re not asking to break the bank; we’re demanding our fair share after all our sacrifices and years spent building this company back up.”
Union workers partly see the negotiation as critical to make up for long-term sacrifices. In 2008, following a bitter 87-day strike, workers at American Axle took major sacrifices to save the facility from closure during the Great Recession.
