The United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union has ratified a new contract with GM following a nationwide vote across UAW membership that took place over the last several weeks. The new GM deal is the first UAW contract to be ratified among the Big Three Detroit automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis), even though General Motors was the last of the Big Three to reach a tentative agreement with the UAW. For now, it looks as though UAW members at Ford and Stellantis will vote to ratify their respective agreements by a comfortable margin.
Earlier in the week, UAW members at General Motors looked to be locked in a dead heat between contract ratification and rejection. Workers at the automaker’s Fort Wayne plant, Wentzville plant, Lansing Grand River plant, Lansing Delta Township plant, Bowling Green plant, Spring Hill plant, Toledo Propulsion plant, and Tonawanda Powertrain plant all voted against the proposal.
Nevertheless, overwhelming support for ratification from workers at the Ultium Cells LLC plant in Ohio, as well as support from the automaker’s Arlington plant in Texas, the latter of which is considered the most-profitable auto plant in world, helped to push ratification support over the top. Workers at the GM Lake Orion plant and GM Factory Zero plant also voted in favor of the agreement, albeit by a slim margin. Meanwhile, workers at various General Motors parts depots also voted in favor of the agreement, but by a significant margin.
Although some General Motors facilities have yet to report voting results, the final tally estimate now stands at 54.7 percent in favor of ratification, and 45.3 percent against. By contrast, the new UAW agreements with Ford and Stellantis appear to be headed for ratification by a 2-to-1 margin.
The new UAW agreement with General Motors was reached after a 46-day strike that began in September following the expiration of the previous labor contract. The new contract includes major wage increases and several other benefits. The UAW represents some 46,000 General Motors workers, and roughly 146,000 workers across all three of the Big Detroit automakers.
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Comments
The bigger question remains: why did the workers at the other plants voted against ratification? What do they want?
What Fain originally promised when he was getting elected.
Had read elsewhere that the long term employees (tier 2) were unhappy that the tier 1 employees would get to their comp level very quickly. They wanted more of a raise for themselves and a bit more separation. Not sure how accurate that is.
The older workers (3 years out from retirement) wanted their raises right away to allow that higher salary level to be used when calculating their pensions, so their concerns were understandable.
Salary has no bearing on UAW pension- it is strictly years of service and trade/production.
Good question, because where I am locally (Michigan) the Bay City plant was all in while the Saginaw and the Flint plants skilled trades wanted it but the regular workers said no.
They were hoping to get close to the 40% deal.
As stated before, everyone can’t be satisfied.
Ford and Stellantis Workers voted for ratification at a 2 to 1 margin. There must be something different about the work environment at GM compared to the other two?
they want restrictions on 12 hour days and 6 days a week, work weeks.