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UAW Approves Strike At GM Fort Wayne, GM Responds

Members of UAW Local 2209 at the GM Fort Wayne facility in Indiana have voted to authorize a strike, with a little over 75 percent of those voting in support the measure. The approval follows accusations that General Motors violated its agreement with the United Auto Workers labor union after it assigned floor managers to union positions, including repairs, parts handling, and inspections. Representatives from the UAW will next meet with General Motors to find a workable solution in the hope of avoiding a walkout.

The GM Fort Wayne production facility in Indiana.

According to a recent report from local CBS news affiliate WANE 15, UAW Local 2209 bargaining chairman Richard LeTourneau commented on the dispute following the strike approval vote, stating that the language of the existing contract prohibits floor managers from working assembly line positions.

“It’s not [the floor managers’] job to touch those trucks, it’s my people’s job,” LeTourneau said. “If they weren’t eliminating jobs at such a fast pace, it probably wouldn’t be an issue, but they can’t eliminate our jobs, cut our overtime and then do our work. It’s just not going to happen under my watch, and I’m not putting up with it.”

According to WANE 15, General Motors issued the following statement ahead of the Wednesday vote:

“GM has and will continue to comply with the provisions of the UAW-GM National and Local Agreements. A strike is neither warranted nor legal in these circumstances.”

The latest development follows a dispute earlier in the month after General Motors laid off 250 temporary workers after failing to reach an agreement with the UAW to extend the workers’ employment, prompting the automaker to assign senior staffers to fill in gaps in second and third shifts. GM defended the decision, claiming it adhered to the contract’s terms on temporary employment.

In light of the recent vote, LeTourneau clarified that the union’s objective was not a strike, but rather to compel GM to respect union job boundaries by refraining from reallocating union tasks to managers.

“[A strike is] the last thing we want to do,” LeTourneau said. “We just want them off our work. We just want them to stop doing our jobs. It’s our work. Let us do it.”

The GM Fort Wayne facility is located in Roanoke, Indiana and produces the Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500. The facility produces roughly 1,300 units daily.

Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. Without reading the contract I don’t know who is right. Most likely it’s a gray area as many labor contracts allow non-bargaining workers to work bargaining unit jobs in certain situations and times of need. Obviously GM believes that this qualifies and the union doesn’t. Stay tuned.

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    1. THey do allow them to work in emergency situations only. If you have to do a uaw job daily that’s not emergency that’s just eliminating a union job for management to do.

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  2. Its not a grey area. It’s called a paragraph 215 violation. Company agreed supervision will not perform work of any hourly rated job. Im not pro union but the company agreed to it just like the union did. Comtract is a contract

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    1. UAW. Unemployed Auto Workers.
      Coming to a GM plant near you.

      Reply
      1. Jealous

        Reply
  3. Let them Strike. This is the one of reasons GM has Mexico Plants

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  4. I can’t imagine why GM and Ford are expanding in Mexico. I worked at unionized UPS while in college – very inefficient, when it was mandatory break time you had to drop what you were doing even if you almost had a trailer loaded/unloaded with just a few boxes left, holding up transport, etc. The union boss yelled at me multiple times when I first started to literally drop what I was doing rather than finish the task and then take a break. Very ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mentality and very little contact with supervisors/management. No surprise if the UAW strikes because several ‘supervisors’ did some hourly work.

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  5. I was taught a union lesson at the age of 19 when I was a parts runner for a van conversion shop in Anaheim, CA. I had some parts to pick up at the Dodge parts distribution center in Long Beach. I had been there several times before and when I walked up to the counter I saw the parts that I was there to pick up sitting on the shelf behind the guy at the counter. I asked the guy standing there if he would grab it for me and he told me “no, I am the picker, you have to wait for the packer to give it to you”. I asked him if he would get him for me and he told me that I have to wait for him to come back from break. He stated that if he started doing that guy’s job too, then they might eliminate his job! LOL! I started to walk around the counter to get it as I was already running late, he got quite agitated so I waited 10 minutes for the other moron to give it to me.

    Reply
    1. They are very lazy. No incentive to work hard or efficiently.
      They are very obedient commies.
      Can’t fire dead weight employees or reward good ones.
      Very un-American.

      Reply
  6. THE UNION ENMPLOYESS SHOULD WORK ON THE OTHER SIDE DEALING WITH THERE POOR QUALITY. JUST KEEP GIVING THEM GURANTEES N MORE MONEY, DEFINETLY WORTH IT

    Reply
    1. The grammar is atrocious 🤦

      Reply
  7. Short sighted unions have killed the steel industry, much of the auto industry and an unfathomable number of manufacturing jobs. Short term views will spell longer term decline. They kill their industry, then whine when pensions dry up and the government rewards them with cash infusion into their pensions.

    Reply
  8. “Why are new cars so expensive???”

    Maybe because the UAW goes on strike every six months, demanding even more money to pull the trigger on a calibrated torque wrench?

    My 22 Silverado has had so many issues, including a transmission leak from the factory. Somehow I don’t think an extra $15/hour is going to prevent that.

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  9. There are more hard working anti union people at GM than you guys know. Ive done it for 20 years. The majority of people you speak of are fat, old women who have GM by the balls with FMLA, sick leave, disability and a whole host of government programs. You guys are out of touch with how the majority of us are treated and whats expected of us. I’ve said it time and time again on here. The GM/UAW of today is not what it was 20 years ago. We all have coworkers who abuse the system and to make blanket statements about hourly workers is wrong. GM is no angel and a vast majority of problems your vehicles have is do to GM’s quality control and lack of investment into machines and equipment. You guys would be surprised to see the 30 year old, junk, worn out equipment that makes the transmission for your $110,000 truck. Numbers are all that matters, im telling you. Get it out the door and fix it later!

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    1. God bless the UAW.

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    2. Very true statement. Unfortunately, UAW leadership spends 95% of the time defending the 5% of the employees that cause everyone (Union & Management) headaches on the daily. GM needs to expect more of ALL their employees incentives need to be paid on actual results (continuous improvement) not a rubber stamp quality payout regardless of what vehicle quality is. I say all this as a former GM manager

      Reply
  10. This is why I’ll be looking at Lexus and Mercedes for my next vehicle. I’m not paying more for a vehicle just because the union stuck it to GM on the last contract and are still whining like babies. I wouldn’t blame the company for laying off workers they really wouldn’t need if the union employees would just do their job. I worked for 17 years in a union shop and it was ridiculous what some people in that union got by with.

    Reply
  11. The sooner carmakers can shed the millstone of the UAW, the sooner they can be out of danger of being dragged down by the deadweight.

    Reply
  12. It sounds to like GM eliminated some “per-diem” supervisors. These are UAW members that temporarily take a supervisory (foreman) positions. They are not regular salaried employees , sometimes they will go on to be regular salaried employees other times they will go back to hourly jobs. When that happens the temporary hourly employees are laid off as they were replaced by the per- diem employe. There are a lot of complexities in the UAW contract and much has changed since I worked in a plant over 30 years ago so I might have this wrong now,

    Reply

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