“American Axle is a mainstay in this community, and we’re fighting to make it better by making our lives better,” said Jay Korf, a UAW Local 2093 member at American Axle. “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.”

“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,” the UAW said.

During the last decade, as a Tier 1 parts supplier to General Motors, American Axle has generated $8.4 billion in profits. Over that time, the company’s CEO has been paid $111 million, with the top five executives receiving ~$231 million in compensation. The UAW said “members working at the Three Rivers plant struggle to afford basic needs, with some even forced to sleep in their cars.”