American Axle, UAW talks resume in Detroit

DETROIT (Reuters) - Representatives of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings and the United Auto Workers returned to the bargaining table on Monday for talks aimed at ending a two-week-old strike seen as increasingly costly for General Motors Corp and other suppliers.

Monday marked the fifth straight day of bargaining between the two sides after talks broke down over the company's demand for steep wage concessions. Talks ran through the weekend and continued on Sunday past midnight, said American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers.

GM, which spun off American Axle in 1994 and relies on it for parts, has shut or partly shut almost 30 facilities employing over 37,000 workers in the United States and Canada because of component shortages triggered by the strike.

GM said 22 plants, including facilities in Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York and Indiana, shut down or shifted to shortened work hours as of Monday.

GM has stopped or slowed work at eight assembly plants building its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks and also sport utility vehicles like the Hummer H2.

Analysts have said GM could be called in to help mediate the talks in a bid to move them toward a resolution that would allow it to avoid a more costly loss of production.

"These are most likely three-way negotiations and not just two-way talks," said IRN Inc. analyst Erich Merkle.

He added that the longer the UAW strike against American Axle continues the riskier the situation for GM becomes. Although its own inventories of unsold vehicles provide it with a cushion, some smaller GM suppliers might be hard-pressed to ride out a prolonged work stoppage, he said.

"The longer this goes on the more the pressure intensifies," he said.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said that if it became clear that the work stoppage would run another week or so, it could put GM, American Axle and other key GM suppliers on watch for a possible downgrade.

"GM is the largest U.S. automaker, so an extensive, prolonged strike by American Axle's workers would create a large ripple effect through GM that would touch most of the U.S. automotive industry," S&P said in a note on Monday.

UAW-represented workers in Michigan and New York went on strike against American Axle on February 26. The supplier relies on GM for almost 80 percent of its sales.

American Axle has said it needs concessions that would take its hourly labor cost in the United States from above $73 per hour to between $20 and $30 per hour in order to be competitive.

The supplier has also proposed closing plants in New York and suggested packages of buyouts and one-time payouts in order to get its existing workers to retire or accept lower pay.

The UAW has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the company, claiming it had not been sharing key financial information with the union during the six months of talks that preceded the strike.

Shares of American Axle were down almost 4 percent at midday on Monday and have lost almost 8 percent since the strike began.

Wall Street analysts have said they see American Axle emerging from the strike with a sharply reduced labor cost structure that would boost earnings.

JP Morgan analyst Himanshu Patel said in a note for clients on Monday that while "buyout costs for the new contract could be rich," a new deal could allow American Axle to cut hourly labor costs by $20 per hour on average. He said that would translate to an additional $2 in annual earnings per share.

American Axle posted net earnings of $27 million and earnings per share of $1.98 for 2007.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki; editing by Gunna Dickson)