I know she's the spokesperson, but OMG, I'm so sick of seeing Renee Roger's name in all of these freaking articles. From BizJournal:

"There is no timetable for a presentation to the union membership at this time," company spokeswoman Renee Rogers said.

She was referring to what last week she called speculation that negotiations included closing Tonawanda and Detroit forge plants. She said that "at this point, all of what you have been reading is rumor and speculation. There has been nothing presented to membership so we are not going to comment on any of that stuff that at this point is just speculation."

So, Renee wants to make sure that everyone knows that the previous reports were wrong and they're no closer to an agreement. Yippee, isn't that great? But wait, there's more, the business article broke down some numbers for us...

But little else was being reported as the future of the company's two Buffalo-area facilities and about 600 hourly and salaried jobs could hang on the outcome.

- snip -

The Tonawanda plant employs about 400 hourly workers. A machining facility in Cheektowaga, which has 110 hourly employees, has not been mentioned as a target for closure, but because it services the Tonawanda plant, its future would be uncertain if the forge plant closed.

I don't know about you, but I so needed to be reminded what's at stake here in terms of numbers. Actually, wait, I didn't!!

And, Renee, it's not just Freep reporting on this, other news outlets are as well...

Worker Ken Krzycki said a local union official told picketers some details of the possible settlement. It would include negotiating the closure of American Axle's Detroit and Tonawanda, N.Y., forge operations. The possible settlement would also include wage cuts for production workers to $17 an hour from about $28.

Local 235 President Adrian King confirmed the numbers and said the union was evaluating the proposal.

Again, bad proposal. Doesn't matter if it's coming out of BizJournal, Freep or Washington Post, a local agreement is just like breaking up the union. When strikers worry about their individual jobs, it pits worker against worker at plants from Tonawanda to Three Rivers. And this also means way more work at the local level because Local agreements mean that each individual plant must hold the company accountable, instead of getting the help from the national (or international) on issues like Pay, classification and many other issues.

And what makes this important is that in local agreements, many don't vote on the contracts. Look at UAW local 1005 in Parma Ohio

...and at the end, they mention that the UAW Parma local REJECTED their contract:

Workers in Parma rejected a new local contract earlier this month. UAW Local 1005 President Tito Boneta, in a letter to his members, said voter turnout was less than 50 percent for that rejection, so the union's leadership is putting the tentative pact up for a new vote Wednesday.

And at the Re-Vote, they barely approved their contract with a TOTAL VOTE FOR: 550 and AGAINST: 537. That means that 51% approved it. And I wish I could figure out how many showed up for this vote, or rather, how much more than 50% of the membership for this vote.

But wait, don't worry, The Toledo Blade has more, this time they make a note about the Delta Township plant, out on strike since April 17th...

GM spokesman Dan Flores said Friday the automaker is pleased the agreement was ratified and hopes to reach other local agreements.

A local at a plant in Delta Township near Lansing went on strike April 17.

Locals at a Warren transmission factory, a Grand Rapids metal fabricating plant, a metal parts stamping factory in Mansfield, Ohio, and a factory in Kansas City, Kan., all have threatened walkouts.

Local plants negotiate their own operating agreements.

And as for Kansas City's plant, well, the Washington Post (actually it's from AP) has the scoop and it means, STRIKE...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Members of a United Auto Workers union local went on strike Monday at General Motors' Fairfax facility _ hitting the plant that makes GM's popular Malibu sedan.

During talks over the weekend, UAW Local 31 set a Monday morning strike deadline because union negotiators believed the two sides remained far from an agreement. The Fairfax plant employs more than 2,500 UAW members.

The plant makes the Chevrolet Malibu, a medium-sized sedan that was named "Car of the Year" at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

For GM and the UAW, it still feels like death from a million papercuts. From Renee's mouth to everyone out there, all of these local agreements for American Axle (if they are a part of the agreement even if Renee says there's no agreement, ugh, my head hurts), we're still talking a death by a million paper cuts. And I think it's cuts to AAM, GM and yep, the UAW.

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Workers Walk Off Job at Lansing GM Assembly Plant
By Sharon Terlep
The Detroit News

Thursday 17 April 2008

Lansing - United Auto Workers walked off the job at General Motors Corp.'s Delta Township plant when a 10 a.m. deadline passed with no deal on a local contract.

The walkout started at about 10:15 a.m. with dozens of vehicles streaming out of plant gates. Some workers picketed the plant with signs as passing motorists signaled support.

UAW officials have not specified the local contract issues in dispute. In addition to the overarching UAW contract reached last fall with Detroit's Big Three automakers, most UAW locals are still negotiating plant-level deals.

Doug Rademacher, president of UAW Local 602, which represents workers at the Lansing plant, said talks have broken off and that he didn't know when they will resume.

He dismissed speculation that the strike is part of a UAW strategy to draw GM into the lengthy labor dispute with partsmaker American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. The UAW walked off the job at American Axle plans Feb. 26.

Rademacher said workers at the Delta plant have been working under a contract put in place in 1999 when GM built the factory. The contract, he said, was intended to give GM flexibility to get the factory running, but was never supposed to be a long-term labor agreement. The UAW planned to get a plant-level contract in place for Delta after last fall's national negotiations, he said.

This workforce deserves respect," he said. "We changed our culture to work with the company. We need a local agreement."

The Delta plant is critical for GM because it builds the automaker's popular crossovers, the GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook and Buick Enclave.

The overall article is interesting in that it mentions the American Axle strike, but doesn't really address why that's important here. There's simply only a mention.

So, let's take a look at it. What GM cars have been affected by the 52 day American Axle strike. So far, we're looking at:

• GMC Acadia,
• Saturn Outlook
• Buick Enclave
• Chevy Malibu
• Chevy Cobalt
• Pontiac G5
• Chevy Silverado
• GMC Sierra
• Buick Lucerne
• Cadillac DTS


And these are only the models named. Most are listed as "GM light trucks", "Cadillac" vehicles as well as "SUV". Pretty generic names that really are more likely on the lines of Escalade, Vibe, Cadillac, Saturn VUE and many others.

So, what exactly does this all mean to American Axle. Well, it means the loss of GM work.

The five week-old strike at American Axle is finally starting to wear on GM, and the General has decided to move a small but crucial parts contract over to rival supplier Dana to help get its truck plants moving again. The 30,000-unit prop shaft contract for light pickups is considered a small deal, but the fact that GM is beginning to move on shows that the strike, which began on February 26, is beginning to take its toll on the giant automaker. The move is going to anger the striking workers, but it will also likely help get American Axle management back at the bargaining table.

It did bring Dick Dauch and his son Dick Dauch, back to the table in early April, but it’s now day 52 of the strike and more plants are being idled as GM runs out of parts for some of their best selling brands.

But what about the workers in Delta Township who now have no local contract in place for their plant? Well, it looks as if it's a waiting game. I suppose it is also a waiting game for even more workers:

A UAW local at a GM transmission plant in Warren, Mich., has a strike deadline set for Friday morning. And a union local at a GM stamping plant near Grand Rapids, Mich., issued a warning to the auto maker that it may strike if progress isn't made on its local agreement.

I wonder if the steelworkers in Van Wert are doing any better in their negotiations from their lock out than American Axle workers are doing in their strike. Somehow, the greed of these corporate goons makes me think, it's just not the case.

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