Fiat Chrysler workers have said yes to their new four-year contract.
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After overwhelmingly voting down the first version of their union’s tentative agreement with Chrysler last month, auto workers have ratified the second version, with 77 percent reportedly voting yes.
So what: The most significant concern was widespread dissatisfaction with a “two-tier” wage system instituted in 2007, when all three Detroit automakers were in deep financial trouble.
The new four-year pact will close much of the wage gap between veteran autoworkers and so-called tier-two workers who have been hired by Fiat Chrysler since 2007.
The union’s talks with Ford Motor Co. will be put on the back burner as union leaders try to resolve internal disagreements over how to approach those negotiations, said people familiar with the matter.
Ford seeks an accord that “enables us to continue providing jobs and investment here in the USA and that ensures a prosperous future” for the company and its workers, spokeswoman Kristina Adamski said in a statement.
United Automobile Workers represents about 40,000 workers for Fiat Chrysler in the United States. The latest proposal omits the idea of a health-care trust to lower medical costs.
But she says it does repackage the deal in a more appealing way to union members. The UAW is eager to convey an image as a reasonable partner with automotive management, which might help it achieve the goal of organizing non-union plants in the southern U.S. FCA wanted to avoid a costly work stoppage at a moment when demand for vehicles in the U.S.is strong.
GM said in a statement that it would bargain “in good faith to obtain an agreement that meets the needs of GM employees and the business”.
The early results are in line with momentum that has been building in favor of a contract that will deliver signing bonuses and raises to all workers, an improved profit sharing formula and what workers view as an improved attendance policy.
While a few workers objected to the length of time of the wage progression, the UAW was able to win over many workers by emphasizing that all workers are guaranteed to see their hourly pay rise at least to $22.50 within the length of the four-year contract. UAW workers at Ford and GM are working on extended contracts from 2011 while the new ones are hammered out. Workers at a plant north of Detroit also have voted yes.
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But a few workers, especially the Tier 1 workers whose base wages haven’t gone up in 10 years, want that base wage to increase.
