American Axle workers see faults in tentative deal

The deal does give workers a $5,000 signing bonus, lump-sum cost of living adjustments and a variety of options to take money and leave the company.

After the meeting, Adrian King, outgoing president of UAW Local 235 in Detroit, said the session didn't go well. Workers were angry about the deal, and their frustration was compounded by a malfunctioning public address system that hampered questions from the crowd.

"We had a lot of angry brothers and sisters," he said. "It's definitely a hard-looking contract, very tough pill to swallow for the membership."

King wouldn't say if he favored the pact, but said it was the best deal that UAW bargainers could get from a company that could move jobs elsewhere.

King also said an additional $18 million contribution from GM was the key to reaching the deal late Friday. The automaker already had agreed to kick in $200 million to help end the walkout and threw in the extra $18 million to cover supplemental unemployment benefits that American Axle was unwilling to pay, King said.

American Axle makes axles, drive shafts and stabilizer bars mainly for GM's pickup trucks and large sport utility vehicles, and GM said it lost $800 million in the first quarter due to the strike.

A summary of the contract distributed by the union included base pay of $18.50 per hour for Detroit workers, up from the $17 per hour that American Axle had been offering.

The summary also said there will be buyouts of $85,000 for someone with less than 10 years with the company and $140,000 for a worker with more.

An offer of a $55,000 early retirement bonus also was included in the proposed contract.

Workers also would get a wage "buydown" of up to $105,000 paid over three years to help ease the transition to lower hourly pay. The size of the buydown would vary with the size of a worker's pay reduction.