The United Auto Workers said Saturday it had reached a tentative agreement with a key auto parts supplier to end a long and crippling strike that forced General Motors to close six assembly plants.<br/><br/>"We do have a tentative agreement" with American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc (AAM), UAW spokesman Roger Kerson told AFP shortly after midnight.<br/><br/>The union released no details of the deal pending ratification meetings, union officials said.<br/><br/>The strike, which began February 26, had forced the number one US automaker to shut down most of its production of light-duty trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) for nearly three months -- a move that reportedly has cost GM up to one billion dollars.<br/><br/>GM has lost production of more than 250,000 trucks and SUVs during the strike at American Axle, according to most estimates.<br/><br/>Some 3,650 American Axle workers walked off the job after the UAW rejected deep pay cuts demanded by AAM management.<br/><br/>Company chairman Richard Dauch also threatened to move work to China or Mexico if the union didn't accept the company's terms.<br/><br/>Before the strike, American Axle workers had been collecting 28 dollars per hour, or wages comparable to those paid at General Motors Corp., which spun off American Axle in 1994.<br/><br/>
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