In addition to Local 862 at the Louisville Assembly and Kentucky Truck plants, the deal has been voted down easily at an axle plant in Sterling Heights, Mich.; a stamping plant in Buffalo, New York; a parts plant in Ypsilanti, Mich.; and engine plants in Cleveland and Lima, Ohio. Volkswagen, which had earlier been the most supportive of the UAW among foreign automakers with US plants, fought the petition by the UAW for a vote of 165 skilled trades workers at the plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Advertisement
The vote, however, was split in Kansas City with about 53% of production workers represented by UAW Local 249 in Kansas City voted Sunday to reject the national agreement, and 50.2% of the smaller group of skilled trades workers voted yes.
The UAW argues that workers at those plants make products that compete directly with suppliers and said the lower wage at those plants helps to preserve jobs and prevented Ford from closing those plants.
However, the $8,000 signing bonuses for 52,700 GM workers will be delayed until after Thanksgiving.
Voting on the contract ends Friday.
After the first Fiat Chrysler contract was rejected, union leaders renegotiated a deal that put more money in members’ paychecks, including a larger bonus for ratifying the agreement.
Featured image from Google Maps.
United Auto Workers Vice President Jimmy Settles is holding onto hope that workers will approved the tentative agreement with Ford as the vote count is heading in the opposite direction. A return to the bargaining table isn’t likely to yield a richer agreement without putting US investment and job security at risk, UAW officials said. Under German law, half of the seats on supervisory boards are held by worker representatives, while the other half is made up of management and stakeholders.
Local 862 president Todd Dunn said that results from voting through 10 p.m. Tuesday will be released to the membership sometime Wednesday morning then made public.
She said workers are right to believe “that if they can’t get their concessions back now, after five years of profits and at the top of the economic cycle, they’ll never get them back”.
Settles said UAW units representing 75% of the total workforce have already voted. A few workers have complained that eight years is too long, given that the contract expires in four years and auto makers could demand changes at that time if the economy has worsened.
“We did give up a lot in previous contracts and the next contract, if Ford’s doing well, I think we’ll be able to get more of it back”, said Pruchnicki of Lorain.
“We remain committed to obtaining an agreement that is good for employees and the business”, GM said.
Advertisement
But the NLRB excludes team members and leaders, specialists, technicians, plant clerical employees, office clerical employees, engineers, purchasing and inventory employees, temporary and casual employees, student employees in the apprenticeship program, all employees employed by contractors, employee leasing companies and/or temporary agencies, all professional employees, managers, guards and supervisors.
