United Auto Workers members at an automotive parts supplier in Three Rivers say they’ll strike next week if their employer does not put forth a better deal on a contract by the end of Sunday.
UAW Local 2093 represents workers at the Three Rivers American Axle plant. In 2008, during the Great Recession, members agreed to have their wages cut by as much as half to keep the plant open. That’s according to Josh Jager, the bargaining chairman of the local.
He said American Axle, also known as Dauch Corporation, has never returned wages to pre-recession levels, but added that it could afford to.
“They only want to take care of the top elite, their management. They're all well taken care of. The people that actually build the product for them, we are expendable in their eyes.”
Dauch did not respond to a request for comment.
Jager said the company's treatment of union workers is also a point of tension in negotiations.
"We have members that have been written up and disciplined because they've had union stickers and like, a countdown calendar on their locker, where other people have not been disciplined for having other non-union stickers or propaganda all over their lockers."
He alleges this treatment was on full display last month, when union members were handing out flyers and other information before their shift outside the Three Rivers plant.
“They called the cops on us. Told us that we were going to be trespassed and fired if we continued to do it.”
According to UAW Spokesperson Diana Hussein, this action is the subject of a federal Unfair Labor Practice complaint filed on May 5.
Hussein added that the UAW filed two other ULPs against the company this month, including one alleging that Dauch removed union stickers and other union-related writings from an employee's locker.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
