Leaders of the United Auto Workers are making a push for the unions proposed contract with Ford, which is heading for defeat in votes at Fords plants.
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Frankfurt-based IG Metall estimates that 100,000 people work for German-owned automotive companies in the U.S. Most of those workers aren’t represented by unions, unlike at their counterparts at plants in Germany. And 78 percent of skilled tradesman at the plant voted against it. A ratification vote at General Motors Co. for a separate labor pact has been on hold for two weeks because a smaller group of skilled trade workers voted down the proposal.
Settles added to this an explicit threat that if workers rejected the contract their plants would close and they would be thrown on the streets. A few wrote that they were ready to go on strike.
Workers at Ford’s Buffalo Stamping Plant, represented by UAW Local 897, joined Kansas City Assembly in voting against the deal on Sunday. “No more tiers” – those are their words, not mine”, Springowski said, referring to slogans the UAW used at its bargaining convention in March.
“I was on the fence, and now I’m going to vote no”, Mr. Schulte said. “So you are negotiating everything all over again”, Settles said.
“If we thought there was another buck on the table we would have got it the first time”, Local 600 President Bernie Ricke said. “It looks dark now, but it might be light in the morning”.
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.
The week extension is rare and the announcement came a week after voting results were released that showed 55.4 percent of GM’s hourly workers had approved the contract, but a majority of skilled trades workers had rejected the deal.
Ford is the last Detroit automaker to negotiate. The automaker pledged to invest $30 million in the Woodlawn plant.
Three workers interviewed by The Courier-Journal Tuesday said they question why they should accept terms that call for an eight-year path to traditional wages over a four-year contract. 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.
“They did not get more (money) when they took a second bite at the apple at FCA, and they won’t get more at GM or Ford”.
“If Ford can put $9 billion in the USA, it can put $9 billion in Mexico”, she said.
A review of their concerns found workers had issues pertaining to local contract agreements, reclassification of trades, numbers of apprentices and the absence of cost of living increases and buyouts. Should the Volkswagen maintenance workers succeed, they could gain undue influence at the plant, he said.
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Negotiators say the contract is good deal for Ford UAW workers-but so far 52% of the 26,000 UAW workers voted to reject the deal. “And they don’t understand the process, so we try to do the best we possibly can to educate them on the process”.
