The United Auto Workers ratified the General Motors Co contract agreement late Friday night, following agreement between the union and GM over a few language clarification regarding skilled trades classifications.
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The union now has new four-year contracts in place with all three Detroit automakers.
The UAW said late Friday that Ford’s contract passed with a 51.4-percent vote. “Through a rational and democratic procedure U.A.W.-Ford members have produced occupation protection and powerful economical increases for their families and communities”.
General Motors said it is pleased the UAW ratified the agreement, calling it good for both workers and the company.
The Ford proposal, which covers more than 50,000 workers, is considered the most generous of the three deals.
The UAW’s national leadership and Ford officials had announced the proposal November 6. Ratification was delayed in part as the skilled trades workers, about 8,500 employees in all, of the automaker had rejected the deal.
“Based on the fact that the majority of the UAW-GM membership ratified the national agreement and that the skilled trades membership concerns about protecting the core trades classifications and seniority rights have now been met, the IEB took action to formally ratify the UAW-GM national agreement”.
UAW President Dennis Williams and Cindy Estrada, vice president of the union’s GM department, asked the company on November 13 to extend a deadline for notifying the company until the close of business November 20. “UAW-Ford members have delivered job security and strong economic gains for their families and communities”. The extension also created tension in a few plants between production workers, who approved the deal, and skilled trades workers. That was before a big auto plant in Chicago voted 68 percent against the contract. It promises bonuses of up to $10,250 per worker this year and annual profit-sharing checks and other bonuses each year after that.
A rejection can be overridden by the union by skilled trades workers, but it cannot shift contract elements that apply to any or all members.
The fate of the Ford deal came down to Local 600 in Dearborn, which finished voting at 6 p.m. Friday.
Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor and industry group at the Center for Automotive Research, said the overall cost of the two FCA deals was virtually identical, but that the second agreement gave workers less job security in exchange for letting Tier 2 workers eventually earn more money.
FCA workers turned down the first tentative agreement reached with that company, before approving a deal that went further toward eliminating the two-tier wage scale.
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The contract is likely to cost GM more money. ( F ) that boost pay for workers.
