American Axle says it will close down last remaining plant

By Charles Sercombe

Any hope that city officials had about American Axle & Manufacturing reopening its plants looks like a thing of the past.

Last week, American Axle officials announced it was closing down its last remaining active plant next February and will lay off 300 workers. Company officials said a shift in the demand for parts is the reason work is stopping here.

But according to local media reports, the closing seems to be more about forcing UAW members to take a pay and benefit cut from $45 an hour to $30 an hour.

UAW officials say their union agreed to reduce pay to $32 an hour, but American Axle officials say that’s untrue.

Regardless, it’s clear where the parts production has shifted: to American Axle’s Mexico plant, which employs about 2,700 workers and is responsible for 28 percent of the company’s global income of $2.3 billion.

The average hourly rate for a Mexican plant worker is $6.94.

The Detroit-Hamtramck plant complex once employed 2,200 workers, and the City of Hamtramck once collected $500,000 a year in property tax and income tax. In 2008, UAW members went on strike over a wage concession demand.

The workers eventually agreed to come back at half the salary they were earning. But it didn’t matter because shortly after the strike American Axle closed down most of the plants at the Detroit-Hamtramck complex and shifted work to Mexico.

The timing of the closing of the last remaining plant is curious to say the least. The UAW contract ends in February, leading to speculation that perhaps work could return with non-union employees.

American Axle officials won’t say what their plans are, but another scenario could be that the plants will be leased out or sold to another manufacturer.

Or, it could be that the plants will forever remain mothballed, adding yet another nail to the coffin of the Detroit auto industry.

24 Responses to American Axle says it will close down last remaining plant

  1. Stephanie Maholmes

    August 3, 2012 at 10:22 pm

    I LOVED MY JOB AT AAM. I WAS FORCED TO TAKE BUYOUT AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF BEING LAID OFF AND NO SIGNS OF RETURNING. TO THIS DAY I AM STILL DEEPLY SADDENED BY THE COMPANYS DECISION TO CLOSE DOWN. MY LIFE HAS NOT RECOVERED SINCE. ITS SAD SO MANY OF US LOST OUR JOBS WE LOVED AND GAVE 100%. WHATS EVEN MORE SAD IS NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE. OF COURSE TIMES HAVE CHANGED AND WITH THAT SOME CHANGES NEEDED YO HAPPEN AT AAM. BUT NOTHING THIS DRASTIC. I STILL FIND MYSELF THINKING ABOUT HOW KUCH I WISH I STILL HAD MY JOB AT AAM AND KEEP HOPING IT WILL RE-EMERGE. MR. DAUCH IF YOU ARE LISTENING..SOME OF YOUR ONCE DEDICATED WORKERS LOVED OUR JOBS AT AAM. AND SINCE LEAVING OUR LIVES HAVW BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN. I STILL PRAY HOLBROOK WILL AGAIN BE ALIVE AND I CAN RETURN TO THE JOB I STILL GRIEVE THE LOSS OF.

  2. Mark

    September 23, 2016 at 2:47 am

    Three Rivers is still open

  3. Mike

    January 16, 2017 at 1:09 pm

    Not for Long same is going on in three rivers. Just a matter of time. 5 years is almost up and 45 an hour compared to 6 is a big difference. Since the CEO passed the company has went to shit.

  4. Supplier

    August 7, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    5 years has come and gone. We supply AAM assembly equipment and there isn’t any sign of 3Rivers shutting the doors.

  5. Jd

    January 3, 2018 at 4:44 am

    Fuck american axle with their greedy ass’es

  6. Mike

    January 9, 2018 at 10:53 pm

    I think it’s funny. When I used to work for Inland Waters coming out of pits or flumes covered in grease cleaning you workers laughed at me. Told me things like “I’d never do what you do”! Well guess What? My job is waste. My job now pays 6 figures a year. Instead of looking down on everyone else like many UAW scum do, I treat people with respect. Regardless of my union. You reap what you have sown. Now reap it well..

  7. Ron

    October 16, 2018 at 12:41 am

    Aam Was very good to me. I worked at the forge until 2009 A tear one supplier cannot demand OEM wages. Competition is too strong. The Detroit complex had too many Democrats didn’t understand this they just wanted their entitlements look where got them. American axle had to do what they did to sustain and stay in business. I was a tradesman at the Forge and I work with a lot of very intelligent tradesmen . I work for Ford Motor Company now and they are a first class world class employer but I will never forget my years at American axle I enjoyed all of them. The UAW did a poor job negotiating with the company and explain the problems of the business to the workforce don’t blame the company blame big UAW

  8. Smitty

    December 16, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    You don’t know what
    you’re talking about the UAW did to good of a job by getting us too much money which is something we all wanted who knew it would backfire

  9. Sam

    April 26, 2019 at 11:22 am

    Fuck John Coster! he is the purchasing guy and he don’t know SHIT. They like to hire people from Ohio and not give people chances in Michigan.

  10. Mickey

    April 29, 2019 at 4:31 pm

    American Axle are nothing more than a bunch of greedy bastards that would work the shit out of you. Then they want to cut your hourly pay in half while the company is making a huge profit. The CEO’s got raises but they want to work for peanuts.

  11. Reginald Blue

    May 25, 2019 at 9:13 am

    Are the five plants AAM purchase when they start, still in operation?

  12. mark j bradley

    July 5, 2019 at 3:07 pm

    Amercian Axle, Kingsford, Mi upper penninsula still running

  13. Timothy Miller

    September 27, 2019 at 3:14 pm

    I retired from AAM Three Rivers. From 2013 through 2018
    the pay was creeping back up. No where near 2007 but
    workers were overpaid then. It couldn’t last. But
    the GM strikes at the high payed plants really hurts
    American Axle. Employees there don’t get any help from
    the UAW when on lay off. No pension when they retire either. If AAM Three Rivers closes, I will never buy
    a GM product again.

  14. Susan Hartline

    September 27, 2019 at 6:23 pm

    Is this article talking about the Three Rivers, MI plant, because I have Family members who work there?

  15. Anthony E Powell

    October 2, 2019 at 2:31 am

    Can’t believe this thread is still going. American Axle is the only job I can say that I enjoyed going to work everyday, we were a family that worked together. Currently I work at GM Grand Rapids plant and rumor has it that Three Rivers axles are being manufactured here.

  16. Gregg Gilbert

    August 25, 2020 at 12:10 am

    It appears that UAW negotiated its workers out of their jobs. One commenter makes it clear they believe the greed of the CEO (and his/her colleagues) is the reason the jobs went to Mexico and so its corporate greed that caused the problem. I don’t know how much education is required to do these jobs, and I don’t presume to. But, to stay competitive, the CEO decided to move production to Mexico. The UAW knew (had to know) this would be necessary to the company’s survival. If they didn’t move, someone would have set up shop in Mexico, making axles, and that would be the end of AAM. UAW wielded its power, and the CEO wielded his/her power, and the workers ended up without their beloved jobs.

  17. old robot guy

    January 19, 2022 at 5:35 pm

    I worked for decades at Colfor mfg, Malvern, bought by Axle out of bankruptcy
    1998. I was a robotic forging press operator that also was required to do a second final sorting /salvage job while I reacted to operational and quality problems.

    I was paid $21.45/hour and was forced to retire when they burnt the plant down.

    I get $239.00/month (No medical benefit) UAW pension after $35 years service. Rumor is they will leave the facility dormant for three years and then reopen without a union.

  18. Tony

    April 25, 2023 at 8:40 am

    Originally american axle was purchased by a group of men one being Jim Mclaren an old Chevrolet manager that went to volkswagen then put the group together and bought american axle Mort Harrison what’s another founder they brought in Dick as Plant Mgr. The place was sold twice after that. BIg profits were made by all sellers and CEO. NOW THERE SAYING WAGES ARE TO HIGH SO IS COST OF LIVING. THOSES GUY A BILLIONAIRES.

  19. connie Harde

    April 25, 2023 at 10:01 am

    Marion Cumo, a man of honor, not greed was my Mentor when I worked there. I was in Materials. Fun and lively in those days. People in Marion’s camp all got along.

  20. Gregg Gilbert

    November 25, 2023 at 7:23 pm

    I worked at Raytheon when they had their last strike. They turned down a $500 signing bonus, but four months later, received a $1K bonus, after losing holiday pay over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. They also lost unused vacation. The company produced more on our product lines than when we had separate assembly and test personnel. Haven’t heard of a successful strike in over twenty years. Success would be more for the workers, not less.

  21. A. Wilson

    March 16, 2024 at 11:20 am

    I would Like to know where these pay figures are coming from? I make 21.07 and been there for over 10 years. I started out making 10.00. I work at the Three Rivers plant. horribly awful to work there. They don’t care about their workers anymore. Too many getting hurt. I feel management is putting this company 8n the ground.

  22. Shay Little

    May 28, 2024 at 6:33 pm

    worked at the Oxford Michigan plant, it was very hard and the supervisors were definitely predjudist Ron or robert Costanada especially. the union was voted in and many supervisors made it their goal to go after the ones that voted it in. I ended up quitting after 4 years because of a mistake I made not covering a shift for my Buddie Matt Cummings. the supervisors came at me with everything they could to get me fired so before I went off on these knuckleheads I quit. funny thing three weeks later was driving for the teamsters, Cal was the only descent one out of the lot of them. what 6.62 in Mexico hourly wage same job more money for the corporation proven statement money root to all evil,

  23. Jason Franks

    August 10, 2024 at 11:08 pm

    Wow! I was looking stuff up outta the old plant i worked at. Crazy! I worked at DETROT FORGE… L262. Pride right! One of the oldest forging facilities in Detroit, Mich. Dirty! Nasty! Dangerous! Started in shot blast on the line. But at 22 i was making 26 and change an hour in 2000/2001 running one of the biggest axle presses in plant 3 with the best guys on shift 1, 2, and 3. I personally with Craig ran the first OG H2 hummer axle. Loved the job learned a ton! Mechanics, rigging, being and working safe, (NOT from AAM) from my brothers, set up and tear down…. Etc. in 2003 was laid off INDEFINITELY… was only there 5 years…. In that time AAM had record profits… and while UAW got a 5k profit share check per employee…cool… 2 weeks later ole DICK announced his profit check which fetched close to 1.5 million! Thats awesome! Then lay us off, play games with buyouts, call us back for a few hours at a time, etc. then to just move the plant to mexico or auburn hills for SCABS! The plant that made airplane and tank parts for wars is now gone! Our plant 3 stood idle waiting to change over when 911 happened! Awesome its gone! But in hind site thanks AAM i used TAP , they paid my way to be a firefighter and paramedic , now a captain. I am sorry for all my UNION Brothers that became on hard times cause of a mans/ companys greed. SCREEW CORPORATION GREED!

  24. Carl Reinstone

    September 10, 2024 at 11:58 pm

    I fully sympathize with the resentment and hurt long time workers harbor for the company by their decision to shut down the last plant.And yes they may decide to replace current workers with non union workers to keep the company alive.

    A number of years ago United Airlines union employees
    demanded “full pay ’til the last day” and did get paid their full pay until the last day-the last day
    before they lost their jobs due to United having to
    file for bankruptcy.

    Ultimately United got back into the “Friendly Skies”.Some of the old employees got hired back .But some did not.

    When a union plays hard ball with fast pitches aimed at a company’s star hitters’ heads sometimes one of
    those pitches get slammed out of the park along with
    a whole bunch of jobs.

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