Three Rivers Press

American Axle to close Detroit plant in February

American Axle's signature Detroit plant near the company's headquarters at Holbrook and I-75 will close in February, the company told the Free Press Thursday.

Approximately 300 hourly and salaried employees work there, though company spokesman Chris Son declined to say whether they would remain with the company. As recently as 2007, more than 2,000 people worked at American Axle's Detroit Manufacturing Complex.

The current labor agreement there ends Feb. 25, 2012.

The facility produces steering linkages and front and rear axles, mostly for trucks.

"In the last several years, a continued shift in market demand towards more fuel-efficient passenger cars and crossover vehicles has significantly reduced our customer production volume for the light-truck programs that are produced by this facility," Son said.

"In order to ensure a viable and sustainable future for this facility, it's necessary for us to achieve a market-competitive labor agreement as well as win new business for this facility that would overcome the high fixed costs of running the complex."

According to Son, the union did not agree to additional concessions that were proposed recently.

American Axle has a recent history of contentious labor relations. In 2008, the union was asked to accept lower wages and new work rules, but responded with a three-month strike.

George McGregor, president at Local 22, which represents the Axle workers, could not be reached for comment.

Greg Price, a pipefitter for 17 years, wasn't surprised by the announcement -- he opposed compensation cuts -- but still was upset.

"We kind of knew that this was coming," said the 48-year-old Warren resident. When American Axle co-founder, chairman and CEO Richard Dauch "first opened up the company, he originally bought the plants, he was all about his people."

But Price said things have changed. "There's a lot of bitterness amongst the guys. ... It seems no matter how much we give this guy, it's never enough."

The Detroit plant was one of five principal facilities purchased from General Motors in 1994 to create American Axle, according to Son. Parts of the manufacturing complex date to 1917.

Mike Wall, a supplier analyst at IHS, said American Axle is facing the same issues as other suppliers that continue to change with the market.

"All suppliers are kind of in the same boat in that they don't want their cost structure to outstrip the natural demand of the market and the production that's expected in the marketplace," Wall said. In addition to shifting the product mix toward more cars, suppliers also must adapt to increasing commodity costs, he added.

Three Rivers Press [share_ebook] Flamethrower by Maggie Estep ...

In the newest Ruby Murphy mystery, New York’s inadvertent sleuth discovers more about her shrink than she could have ever imagined as the doctor turns the tables, enlisting her help in the hunt for a one-legged man who’s been kidnapped and hidden in the Rockaways. Life gets even stranger when Ruby is inexplicably fired from her job at the Coney Island Museum, her friend Violet’s best racehorse is suddenly put up for sale, and a blue Honda begins shadowing Ruby’s every move as she journeys into the wilds of Pennsylvania in search of the woman she always thought had all the answers.

Alternative medicine, the definitive guide

Three Rivers poetry journal

Natural Health, Natural Medicine

Bread of Three Rivers, The Story of a French Loaf

The homeschooling option, how to decide when it's right for your family