At least once a week, for the past 10 weeks, I've gone out of my way to drive past the American Axle plant on River Road in Tonawanda, NY. The UAW has been on strike, and I honk my horn and pump my fist in solidarity with the guys and girls on the picket line. My late father worked there (when it was the Chevrolet Tonawanda Engine Plant) for 30 years.  He earned a good enough living to own a home, put 4 kids through college, and spend the 20 years after his retirement comfortably pursuing his hobbies of fishing and home imporovement. As proud as my father was of his work, he insisted that his children do well in school, "so you can do better than I did".   He must have sensed what was coming.

This morning, the front page of the Buffalo News said it all:

AMERICAN AXLE SEEKS TO EXIT AREA - Two remaining sites would shut down

As part of the strike settlement, GM wants to close the Western NY plants in Tonawanda and Cheektowaga. 580 people may lose their jobs. This would be in addition to the 300 people who lost jobs when the Buffalo plant closed last year. This is an area that has already been devastated by the loss of thousands of industrial jobs.