Auto strike: Stellantis-UAW deal has enough votes to ratify
A majority of United Auto Workers members at Stellantis NV have cast enough “yes” votes to approve a new four-and-a-half year deal, the second of three with Detroit automakers, according to an analysis by The Detroit News.
Passage of the deal has secured nearly 70% of votes from hourly workers at reporting locals, according to the UAW’s vote tracker, after totals from workers at Jefferson North and Mack assembly plants in Detroit were included. That leaves 10,902 votes between the yes and no totals, more than the total hourly employees at the remaining locals.
Two sources familiar with the process confirmed the analysis. Representatives for the UAW and Stellantis declined to comment because members still are voting into the weekend.
The UAW in a letter obtained by The News late Thursday showed final ratification results for its agreement with General Motors Co. had almost 55% hourly support. An agreement on Friday morning was passing at Ford Motor Co. with more than 67% support, though it remained too close to call with results from locations like the Dearborn Truck Plant still outstanding. Two Ford locals had voted down the agreement so far.
GM has not commented on the ratification results.
The agreements secure 27% general wage increases over the life of the four-and-a-half-year term. They include cost-of-living adjustments, increased retirement contributions, and pathways to organizing workers at electric-vehicle assembly plants. Stellantis’ deal commits to $19 billion in U.S. investments, including allocating a midsize truck to the idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois as well as committing to building a battery plant there.
There were three locals representing workers at the maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram that had a majority of no votes. Those includes the locals representing workers at Mopar parts distribution centers in St. Clair County’s Marysville and Boston, facilities that could be closed under the automaker’s plan to consolidate and modernize its aftersales business that it says wouldn’t reduce the number of jobs.
Workers at Toledo Assembly Plant, who had stood on strike the longest of the Stellantis members for 44 days ending Oct. 28, voted 54.9% against the agreement.
GM-UAW members this week approved the new deal. Earlier this week, it appeared the contract was likely to be turned down after members at large GM plants voted against it. But on Wednesday workers at the large full-size SUV plant in Arlington, Texas, and by workers at the Ultium Cells LLC battery plant in northeast Ohio supported it, swinging the results to a firmer yes vote.
Main issues driving opposition came mostly from legacy workers who’ve been with GM for more than a decade. Their concerns: not enough gains for pensions, and not enough in wage increases for workers who for years went without wage increases amid the Great Recession and GM bankruptcy.