Auto Parts Workers Strike at Michigan Plant Supplying General Motors

Read our editorial on the significance of strikes here.

Nearly 1,000 workers are on strike at a Dauch Corporation (formerly American Axle Manufacturing) manufacturing plant in Three Rivers, Michigan.

The workers, organized by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2093, walked off the job at midnight on May 31. After months of failed talks, workers voted earlier in May to authorize an unfair labor practices strike once their contract expired.

Dauch Corporation manufactures wheel axles and other drive train components used in General Motors (GM) trucks and SUVs, which are highly profitable vehicles for the auto monopoly.

Amid the economic crisis of 2008, workers at American Axle, like many auto workers, were forced to accept massive pay cuts under concessionary contracts negotiated between UAW and the monopolies to keep their employers in business. In some cases, workers at Dauch Corporation, who made $29 an hour, had their wages slashed in half under the concessions.

In their prior contract, workers at the plant capped out at $22 an hour after a five-year progression period. Adjusted for inflation, workers at Dauch Corporation earn half of what they earned before 2008.

UAW has contended in press releases that the auto industry has recovered from the 2008 crisis and continues to pay workers what amounts to poverty wages. The union says Dauch Corporation brought in roughly $8.4 billion in profits over the last decade.

Dauch Corporation’s most recent proposal would only bring the top hourly rate up to $25.75 by the end of the next contract.

According to Josh Jager, bargaining chairman for UAW Local 2093, speaking to monopoly press, workers at the plant for years have experienced financial difficulties such as eviction and credit card debt, and living out of their cars. Other union leaders report workers having to bike due to being unable to afford car repairs. The union said the workers are fighting against excessive mandatory overtime and to secure paid sick time.

In a social media post shared by the UAW, one striking worker said about the strike effort, “If it’s a week, if it’s a month, if it’s six months – I’m here.”

The strike at Dauch Corporation comes almost three years after the UAW’s “Stand up Strike” against the Big Three Automakers in 2023. The “Stand Up Strike” began when 17,000 workers hit the picket lines across the three auto companies in September of that year. Rather than calling for all locals to strike at once, UAW leadership asked select locals to “stand up” and walk out gradually. This way, the UAW union bureaucracy could gradually increase pressure during negotiations without completely halting production and preserving the monopolies’ profits.

UAW has also begun organizing workers in the auto industry outside the Big Three in the low-union-density South, such as their most recent contract with Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Image: Dauch Corporation workers on strike, June 5, 2026. Credit: UAW International Union on Facebook.

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