One hundred forty laid-off American Axle workers returned to work Tuesday in response to a letter sent to them by the company telling them if they didn't, they'd lose benefits. Workforce Management reports the workers did as ordered– and immediately went on strike, joining the UAW picket line outside the plant. Union members from other factories also joined the strikers in protest of AA's weekend ad looking for replacement workers. American Axle mouthpiece Renee Rogers wouldn't say how many workers they were hoping to recruit to replace "associates who will take buyout and attrition programs." She also didn't comment on the ad's statement the applicants could be used "in place of employees involved in this strike" but she did say the negotiations were "moving ahead slowly." The UAW had no comment.
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Hmmm….that tactic didn’t work as advertised…
Fantastic! GM manages a double Lutz leading to a triple Axle – while on the thin ice of an economic recession!
Tear gas, water cannons and dogs are next.
Now, THAT was funny!
Not so funny is the fact that for the UAW, this may just be their Waterloo.
What Michigan loses, Mexico will gain (in jobs).
Will the last person out of Michigan please save electricity and turn out the lights?
Exactly how does this work for UAW members on strike? They came back to work because the company said they’d lose benefits if they didn’t–then they immediately went on (or rather, went back on) strike. I guess the strikers punched the clock to technically qualify as back on the job.
Do strikers usually continue to get benefits while they’re on strike? Or do benefits just continue for 30 days after a walkout? (Where I worked, health insurance premiums were paid in advance for the coming month.) Benefits can represent 30% of a total compensation package. Added to strike pay, this would take a lot of the sting out of a work stoppage.
The article said non-American Axle workers were on the picket line. Maybe the AA employees decided this is a good time to escape Detroit for a little vacation in warmer climes.
While on layoff, the workers got unemployment. Once back to work, then on strike, they can’t collect unemployment. So AA, knowing that the workers would immediately (re)join the strike, essentially just stripped them of their unemployment checks. AA probably had to offer them their jobs back before hiring new employees due to labor laws, so they were casualties of their own game.
I can’t see AA not knowing this would have happened, so they had a plan for it. Now the question is what is that plan? This is turning out to be one heck of a story and chess game.
pman said:
“While on layoff, the workers got unemployment. Once back to work, then on strike, they can’t collect unemployment. So AA, knowing that the workers would immediately (re)join the strike, essentially just stripped them of their unemployment checks.”
Wow. Next time I want a job, remind me to go ahead and join a union. They do SUCH a terrific job of protecting people’s jobs and incomes, eh?
Unions are as passe’ as steam engines. Virtually all of the protections originally intended by collective bargaining (and then some – like EPA, OSHA etc.) are now taken over by the nanny state.
Menno:
“Wow. Next time I want a job, remind me to go ahead and join a union. They do SUCH a terrific job of protecting people’s jobs and incomes, eh?
Unions are as passe’ as steam engines. Virtually all of the protections originally intended by collective bargaining (and then some – like EPA, OSHA etc.) are now taken over by the nanny state.”
I agree 100%. I work at a grocery store, and I have not kept my opinions about our union secret. In a recent CBA, our union negotiated a starting salary LESS THAN minimum wage, almost $2/hr under the minimum. Which means, everyone at the store makes minimum for at least 3 years, despite the fact the union has guaranteed wage increases every 600 hours of work or so. It’s not until about 5000 hrs worked that one gets more than minimum.
Plus, 90% of us are classed as part-time, which means we get no benefits. And the union says we can only work a maximum of 4 days a week as part time employees – we are prohibited from working more. Granted, that doesn’t stop us. And the store owner gives good employees much higher raises more frequently than the union wants to.
So, all the union does is suck money from our already small paychecks, and protect the poor and mediocre workers’ jobs.