Nearly 1,100 workers at General Motors Corp.'s Toledo Powertrain plant are being called back to work Monday to resume production of four-speed transmissions in a sign that a bitter 10-week strike at a top GM supplier may be coming to an end.
GM revealed in a government filing yesterday that it had agreed to kick in up to $200 million to help bring an end to the strike at parts supplier American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. The automaker said the money would go for temporary payments to buffer reduced wages for the workers, as well as employee buyout and early retirement packages.
Wanda Wellman-Montion, a spokesman for GM's pow-ertrain plants in Toledo and Defiance, said workers idled since mid-March by the strike are being called back to work Monday. The four-speed transmissions built by the plant are used in a number of GM vehicles, including many pickups and SUVs.
About 3,600 United Auto Workers at five American Axle factories have been on strike since Feb. 26 in a dispute over the company's quest for lower wages and benefits.
The strike has crippled GM's production of pickup trucks and SUVs and hurt its bottom line. About 30 GM factories have been either fully or partially closed because of the strike.
No deal had been reached by late yesterday between American Axle and the UAW, but company representative Renee Rogers said talks were continuing."We are hopeful that GM's financial assistance to help fund the buyouts, retirement incentives, and buy downs … will facilitate an expedited resolution to the international UAW strike," she said. "It's been costly and disruptive. A quick return to work will be a win-win-win for everybody."
American Axle said in a separate filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the aid from GM is contingent on a quick end to the strike.
American Axle makes axles, drive shafts, and stabilizer bars, mainly for GM's large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.
GM said in its filing that the strike has not hurt its ability to deliver trucks and SUVs because its dealers had large inventories of the vehicles. But its North American division lost $800 million because of the strike because the company lost production of about 100,000 vehicles.
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