By Christopher Otts

Nearly 1,000 workers at a Michigan automotive supplier are set to strike, stalling the production of key parts for General Motors' midsize and full-size pickup trucks.

Workers at the American Axle plant in Three Rivers, Mich. are at an impasse with the company over a new labor contract. Workers say their pay hasn't recovered from 2008, when they agreed to slash wages in half to keep the plant running during dire economic times, despite high profit at American Axle in recent years on the strength of GM's truck sales.

"For 18 years, these members have built you an empire of profit, while getting treated like dirt. They've taken wage cuts, benefit cuts. They've poured their souls into this plant," said United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain in a livestream announcing the strike late Sunday. The work stoppage starts Monday.

"We'll stay out on strike until this company comes to its senses and treats these workers with dignity and respect," Fain added.

American Axle and General Motors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The American Axle plant produces axles for GM's heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, as well as for its midsize trucks, the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. The plant also makes axle tubes that ultimately end up in light-duty Silverados and Sierras.

While GM is its main customer, the plant also makes components for another automotive supplier and for Chrysler's Pacifica minivan.

The strike comes at an inopportune time for GM, which is trying to take advantage of its rival Ford Motor's limited pickup production due to an aluminum shortage. It is also fending off renewed competition from Stellantis, whose Ram truck sales are up 23% in 2026 from a year earlier, according to Motor Intelligence. GM's trucks are among its most profitable models.

GM is trying to increase production of its heavy-duty Silverados and Sierras just as the workers who make the axles for those trucks are going on strike. GM's Flint, Mich., plant, which assembles the pickups, is set to add a sixth day of weekly production in June.

The American Axle plant also supplies GM's Oshawa, Ontario, truck plant, which assembles heavy-duty Silverados in addition to those made in Flint.

Josh Jager, a 24-year American Axle employee and chairman of the bargaining committee for UAW Local 2093, accused the company of stockpiling axles since January in anticipation of a labor dispute as its union contract expires Sunday. As of Sunday, GM appears to have about two weeks' worth of axles in stock, he said.

Jager, like other plant employees, saw his wage slashed from $29 per hour to $14.50 in 2008, when workers feared the plant would close. Today, production workers at the plant top out at $22 an hour, he said. He makes about $25 after moving into a skilled trades position.

"We have members that take out a loan on their 401(k) almost every 12 to 24 months to pay off credit card debt, and it's just a perpetual thing because they can't make enough money," Jager told The Wall Street Journal. "A guy works seven days a week, $22 an hour, and he can't support himself."

Besides more money, the workers are seeking limits to American Axle's ability to compel them into overtime production on weekends, which happened in 47 of 52 weeks in 2023, Jager said.

Write to Christopher Otts at christopher.otts@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

American Axle employee Josh Jager makes a higher hourly wage because he is a skilled-trade worker, a role that pays more than production workers. "UAW to Strike at Key General Motors Truck Supplier Plant," at 10:24 p.m. ET, incorrectly stated his pay rate.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 31, 2026 23:25 ET (03:25 GMT)

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