By Associated Press
Buffalo, NY – Union leaders at the American Axle plant in Buffalo say they've been told unofficially by the company that the facility will be shut down for good early next year.
Officials at Detroit-based American Axle and Manufacturing aren't commenting. But they have said in the past that the factory on Buffalo's East Side is one of four nationally that could lose a production line.
The Buffalo plant employs 650 workers.
The chairman of Local 424 of the United Auto Workers tells The Buffalo News that the company plans to idle the Buffalo factory by the end of this year and shut it down when the union's contract expires in March.
The Buffalo plant makes rear axle assemblies for General Motors.
American Axle has two other operations in the Buffalo area that employ 350 people.
A union official said a shutdown of the larger factory shouldn't have an impact on the other two.