American Axle delivers new proposal to UAW

DETROIT (Reuters) - American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc (AXL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) delivered a new proposal to the United Auto Workers union on Friday as the company and union continued talks aimed at reaching an agreement to settle a six-week strike at five U.S. plants.

American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers declined to provide details of the proposal, but said the two sides were expected to continue full negotiations over the weekend.

A UAW representative could not be reached for comment.

About 3,650 UAW-represented workers at American Axle went on strike February 26. The walkout has forced major customer General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which accounts for about 80 percent of American Axle's revenue, to partly or completely idle some 30 plants in North America.

Talks between American Axle and the UAW had largely stalled for a month while the sides wrangled over financial details and company demands for steep cuts in wages and benefits. Their resumption earlier this week was seen as somewhat of a breakthrough.

The union delivered a new financial proposal to American Axle with the restart of talks on Wednesday. On Thursday, the company said the offer was a slight improvement, but would have still left the company with wages and benefits that are far higher than rival companies.

American Axle has said it would be forced to consider closing the five striking plants, which are located in Michigan and New York, if it cannot obtain labor cost cuts that would let it bid competitively for new business and make plant improvements.

The company says it has offered buyouts for the UAW workers or to provide annual cash payments to current workers to cushion the blow of a shift to lower wages and benefits.

Separately, American Axle said it reached agreements with the unions representing its workers in England, Mexico and Scotland.