“We had a lot of angry brothers and sisters,” he said. “It’s definitely a hard-looking contract, very tough pill to swallow for the membership.”

King wouldn’t say if he favored the pact, but said it was the best deal that UAW bargainers could get from a company that could move jobs elsewhere.

King also said an additional US$18 million (euro11.61 million) contribution from GM was the key to reaching the deal late Friday. The automaker already had agreed to kick in US$200 (euro129) million to help end the walkout and threw in the extra US$18 (euro11.61) million to cover supplemental unemployment benefits that American Axle was unwilling to pay, King said.

American Axle makes axles, drive shafts and stabilizer bars mainly for GM’s pickup trucks and large sport utility vehicles, and GM said it lost US$800 (euro516) million in the first quarter due to the strike.

A summary of the contract distributed by the union included base pay of US$18.50 (euro11.94) per hour for Detroit workers, up from the US$17 (euro10.97) per hour that American Axle had been offering.

The summary also said there will be buyouts of US$85,000 (euro54,846) for someone with less than 10 years with the company and US$140,000 (euro90,334) for a worker with more.

An offer of a US$55,000 (euro35,488) early retirement bonus also was included in the proposed contract.

Workers also would get a wage “buydown” of up to US$105,000 (euro67,751) paid over three years to help ease the transition to lower hourly pay. The size of the buydown would vary with the size of a worker’s pay reduction.

The deal features different pay rates at each of the company’s U.S. locations. Production workers in Detroit, for example, would make a maximum of US$18.50 (euro11.94) per hour, but workers doing some of the same jobs in Three Rivers, Michigan, would make US$14.50 (euro9.36). Factory support workers in Detroit would make US$14.35 (euro9.26), while the same job would pay US$10 (euro6.45) per hour at the Three Rivers axle plant.

The summary sheet says American Axle agreed to invest US$170 (euro110) million to US$200 (euro129) million in UAW-represented factories, and the company agreed to place some new business in the plants. In addition, notices of outsourcing work from Detroit and Cheektowaga, New York, will be rescinded, the summary says.

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