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Strike Transcends Labor Dispute
By Jewel Gopwani
The Detroit Free Press
Tuesday 18 March 2008
American Axle workers receive support.
Support has been pouring in for striking workers at American Axle & Manufacturing from other unions and businesses that want to back a strike they say has come to represent a fight for working-class wages beyond the Detroit axle supplier and even beyond the auto industry.
As the strike begins its fourth week - longer than most labor and auto experts anticipated - negotiators from both sides continued their dialogue Monday. Talks are expected to continue today.
Much of the support for strikers has come from UAW locals that represent workers at several companies, including General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Many have given cash, picket signs and food, in addition to volunteering on the picket line.
"This is like a milestone as far as what the UAW and what unions are facing now," said Adrian King, president of Local 235, who said the support has been humbling.
American Axle says it needs wage and benefit cuts from its veteran workers to be competitive.
Workers from the automakers who have helped on the picket lines outside American Axle's plants in Detroit say they're worried that if the supplier wins across-the-board wage cuts, then one day, they could face similar demands.
"What they do to one is what they'll do with the rest," said George Collar, who works at Chrysler LLC's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. He walked the picket line last week, representing his union, UAW Local 1700. "We've got to stand up, shoulder to shoulder, and fight it out."
UAW Local 22, which represents 2,250 GM workers, has been collecting money at GM's Detroit Hamtramck assembly plant every Friday to donate to the UAW locals representing American Axle workers.
"We're in for a fight," said UAW Local 22 President George McGregor. "We're going to support these guys 100%."
Support also has come from other industries. Members of UAW Local 2500, which represents workers at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, gave out coffee last week.
"They're under attack, as are workers across the country," Sally Bier, president of UAW Local 2500, said of the strikers.
A few blocks away from American Axle's Detroit campus of plants, there's Kelly's Bar, with a sign on the forest-green door saying, "Need a warm up? Free coffee for all AAM workers."
A union leader at American Axle's plant in Three Rivers, near St. Joseph, said two local auto dealers donated vehicles to drive picketers from the union hall to strike sites a few miles away.
Said Bill Younts, vice president of UAW Local 2093: "We have one little lady that goes around to our picketers and brings them cheeseburgers."
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