STRIKE POSSIBLE FOR GM, FORD AXLE MAKER.

Byline: Ted Evanoff Detroit Free Press 

Just after Ford Motor Co. got its Michigan Truck plant in Wayne up and running again, it faces a threat to production of light trucks and rear-wheel-drive cars.

A labor dispute brewing at Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing could disrupt production of the light trucks that financially carry not only Ford, but also General Motors Corp. A strike could cripple truck production at GM, which uses American Axle products in most of its light trucks. And it could disrupt Ford production until the company found an alternative supplier.

American Axle forges rear axle shafts used in an array of Ford vehicles that include the Michigan Truck Expedition, the Explorer and the F150 pickup truck.

UAW and American Axle bargainers Wednesday continued to negotiate a labor contract against a strike deadline of midnight Friday. If a strike occurs it would mark the second significant labor dispute at an auto-parts plant this winter.

About 500 UAW members are on strike against Johnson Controls Inc. plants that make seats in Plymouth, Mich., and in Oberlin, Ohio. Ford found another seat supplier and reopened 4,000-employee Michigan Truck at full production Wednesday after a five-day shutdown. Ford's Econoline van assembly lines near Cleveland remain idle with 2,800 workers laid off at Ohio Assembly and Lorain Assembly. Johnson Controls' Oberlin plant, closed because of the strike, made all the Econoline seats.

Ford pushed to resume making the Expedition because the full-size sport utility vehicle is selling well at a high profit margin. Shipments to customers are expected to begin as early as Saturday.

But Michigan Truck appears vulnerable again if a long strike at American Axle exhausts the stockpile of Expedition rear axles built up during the five-day shutdown.

Ford could turn to other forges for axle shafts, but it would take time for others to meet Ford's requirements.

American Axle forges about 15,000 axle shafts a day for Ford's Sterling Heights power train plant, which turns the shafts into rear axles for light trucks and rear-wheel-drive Ford and Lincoln vehicles, industry sources said.

In contrast, GM light truck production could be crippled, because GM relies on American Axle for the finished axles for most of its light trucks. GM represents about 90 percent of American Axle's $2 billion in annual sales, an industry source said.

American Axle is negotiating its first contract since GM spun it off as a private company in 1994. American Axle inherited GM-scale wages but in its first contract wants to pay workers less, which has become a sticking point with the unions.