Hummer H2 plant employees to return to work June 2

By JIM MEENAN, Tribune Staff Writer

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About 400 workers at the H2 plant in Mishawaka were laid off because of the American Axle strike. (WSBT photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: May 23, 2008 at 11:03 AM EST

Story Updated: May 23, 2008 at 11:03 AM EST

MISHAWAKA –– American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. is not holding back AM General any longer.

With the UAW’s ratification Thursday of a new contract between it and American Axle, GM informed AM General that it would get enough parts for the Hummer H2 plant to resume production June 2.

Hummer H2 has had nearly 400 employees temporarily laid off since March 4 because of a lack of parts being shipped from GM because of the strike.

The strike began Feb. 26 and ended with Thursday’s ratification of the contract by the UAW.

"Workers as a group will come back to work Monday, the 2nd of June," said Craig Mac Nab, AM General spokesman. "And they are happy."

Mac Nab said that about 50 workers would be called back to work next week to help start up the plant.

In fact, the mood at the plants in Mishawaka was definitely upbeat Friday.

"Oh, yes," Mac Nab said. "It has been a long layoff. We just got the word this morning from GM."

Nearly 800 workers at the American Axle plant in Three Rivers were on strike.

And the word they are getting there, said Bill Younts, UAW Local 2093 vice president, is that they will return to work Tuesday.

"That is what they are telling us," Younts said.

The local, which has nearly 800 members, is glad the strike’s over, Younts said.

"I think people want to go back to work," he said, "but they are just frustrated at how it shook out."

The settlement is not the same for each factory, Younts indicated.

"It’s different for us down here than Detroit," he said, without elaborating.

Read Saturday’s South Bend Tribune for updates to this story.

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