General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers have come upon a few speed bumps on the road to winning ratification of a new four-year labor contract.
The Detroit News reported Friday morning that workers at a UAW local in Romulus, Mich., have rejected the tentative agreement, the second local this week to do so after a plant in Massena, N.Y., voted against the deal. The Romulus vote was a surprise to many industry watchers, as the union won a commitment from GM to keep that plant open as part of the new deal. (The Massena facility is set to shut down by year’s end.)
But despite the setbacks, chances are GM officials are not losing sleep just yet. While local results can make headlines, the total vote is what counts. And as of Friday morning, more than 60% of votes cast are in favor of the deal.
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And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the deal, which was reached after a two-day strike, is tough for some union members to swallow. In addition to the establishment of a landmark trust that would leave it to the UAW to manage retirement healthcare funds, the agreement calls for the creation of a two-tier wage scale that the union had resisted for a generation.
Some union activists have called on UAW members to strike down the contract, warning that the agreement takes workers “from a career to ‘just another job’ with a single vote.” Still few believe that there will be enough momentum to derail the agreement, which GM has said is necessary if it is to close its cost disadvantage against foreign nameplates including Toyota Motor Corp.
With six additional locals scheduled to vote Friday, a more definitive picture may emerge by the weekend. — Lou Whiteman
See Detroit News story
See TheDeal.com story on the tentative agreement
See futureoftheunion.com's anti-agreement flyer
See GM Dealwatch
