UAW production members voted 51% in favour; skilled trades were 52% in favour and nearly 92% of salaried workers voted yes.
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The new GM deal would raise labor costs from $55 to $60 an hour, a 9 percent hike, according to a study of the deals from Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research and Art Schwartz, a former GM labor executive and president of Labor and Economic Associates.
UAW leaders met with holdouts until enough were convinced to give it a thumbs up.
The UAW says the agreement now addresses those workers’ concerns about job classifications and seniority rights.
The agreement guarantees legacy workers hired before 2007 a 3% pay increase in the first and third year of the contract and a 4% lump-sum bonus in the second a fourth year of the contract.
Dennis Williams, the president of UAW, said in the press release that the agreement was finally ratified following a “long process and much debate”.
The union ran into snags getting the deal approved by its membership at GM and Ford plants.
“Through a fair and democratic process UAW-Ford members have delivered job security and strong economic gains for their families and communities”, he said.
The new contract is a big relief for veteran workers.
GM declined to comment on the external labor cost estimates. Even though a majority of UAW members voted in favor, the skilled-trades group – which includes employees such as plumbers, electricians and millwrights – within the union rejected it. UAW rules require approval from production workers and the trades group but gives the leadership override authority if there’s majority support.
Bernie Ricke, the president of Local 600, a large union in Dearborn, told the Chicago Sun-Times that if there was a better deal available, they would have gotten it instead.
“If we thought there was another dollar on the table, we would have got it the first time”, he said. “They’ve weakened their long-term job security and they’ve failed to bandage the festering wound that is two-tier wages”, Niedermeyer said. It promises bonuses of up to $10,250 per worker this year and annual profit-sharing checks and other bonuses each year after that.
“We will continue to work with our UAW partners to implement the agreement, and engage our employees in improving the business and building great vehicles for our customers”, she said.
In a related news, the General Motors deal was also ratified when the skilled workers rejected the agreement for income parity. General Motors has already increased its labor fees by $5 with Ford’s staff enjoying a $3 increase.
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Ford said it was pleased with the vote.
