DETROIT -- The bitter three-month-long strike by the UAW against American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. is over.

The UAW rank-and-file approved the concessionary four-year contract with the General Motors spinoff company by a 78 percent to 22 percent margin, the UAW said in a statement released late Thursday.

The ratification was good news to GM, which was forced to slow or idle as many as 30 different assembly and parts operations during the course of the strike. GM estimated the strike cost it $800 million in March alone. GM also agreed to pay American Axle $218 million to help finance employee buyouts and buydowns.

The strike by 3,650 UAW members at five American Axle plants in Michigan and New York also resulted in numerous layoffs and plant shutdowns at various GM suppliers.

Worker votes began on May 19 and concluded today. The agreement calls for drastic pay cuts and two plant closings.

American Axle plans to resume production next week.

"AAM is pleased to announce the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement with the International UAW," CEO Richard E. Dauch said in a prepared statement.

"This new contract provides AAM and its UAW-represented workforce the opportunity to transition through a most difficult period of structural change in the domestic automotive industry. We look forward to the prompt resumption of normal manufacturing operations at our original U.S. locations."

No other choice

The UAW was forced to accept the concessions because of the dramatic drop in demand for pickup trucks and SUVs. American Axle supplies axles and other parts to GM for those vehicles.

American Axle was able to meet much of GM's reduced production demands for those vehicles by filling the orders from a plant in Mexico. GM, which spun off American Axle in 1994, remains the supplier's largest customer accounting for about 80 percent of its sales.

American Axle workers, in interviews with various news organizations, said they had no choice but to approve the contract and go back to work.

"Our members have had to make some tough decisions for themselves and

their families and have done so with careful deliberation," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a prepared statement.