Rank-and-file members of the United Auto Workers union approved their labor deal with General Motors, despite significant opposition that saw it voted down by workers at more than a dozen plants.
The deal reached between the union and the company on October 30 won the support of only 55% of members who participated in the ratification process. But that was enough to ratify the deal, passage of which appeared in doubt as recently as Wednesday.
The final results from all the UAW members at GM were posted on the union’s Web site Thursday morning. The union releases ratification results on a plant-by-plant basis.
Rank-and-file ratification is needed before a contract can take effect. If workers had rejected the deal, it could have brought about a resumption of the strikes at the company.
As late as Wednesday afternoon there had been concern the deal might be voted down, according to people familiar with the ballot, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
But the outlook for deal approval changed after it was reported late Wednesday afternoon that 61% voted in favor of the deal at the Arlington, Texas, plant, GM’s largest factory. With that vote, the chance of the deal being defeated essentially ended.
A narrow win
The vote passed despite Thursday results showing opposition from 61% of the members voting at the Lansing Delta Township plant, one of the company’s Michigan assembly plants.
Voting is also taking place on the deals at Ford and Stellantis, which builds cars at its US plants under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler brands. But the vote totals show 66% support among rank-and-file at both those companies, meaning they never quite had the same risk of rejection as the vote at GM.
Neither the union nor any of the companies had any immediate comment on the vote results, the final vote at GM, or preliminary votes at the other two automakers.
But the yes votes even at those companies was less than some other recent ratification votes. Teamster members voted 86% in favor of that union’s deal with UPS in July. The 85,000 union members at Kaiser Permanente voted 98.5% in favor of a deal that averted a second strike at the health care company earlier this month.
Recent labor history includes numerous examples of membership voting down deals reached by their unions’ negotiators, with the unions subsequently going on strike. Most recently, nearly 4,000 members at Mack Truck rejected a deal similar to the three auto deals on October 8, and had been on strike through Wednesday.
But when Mack Trucks indicated it would not raise the basic terms of the deal that was rejected, members participated in a new vote Wednesday on a very similar contract with changes only to local provisions of the deal, not the national contract. That passed Wednesday with 93% support, ending that strike.
A victory for Shawn Fain
UAW President Shawn Fain had told members that the tentative agreements with all three unionized automakers represented record deals and wins for the union. He said that the union had won every last penny the companies were willing to pay. He also said the final decision on the deals was up to membership.
Despite Fain talking up the deals in speeches he gave on Facebook Live, many members who logged into those talks posted criticism of the tentative agreements. Some just urged other members to vote no, without giving a reason for their oppositions.
Others said that the union could achieve even better deals if members voted no. And some complained too many of the gains went to more recently hired workers, such as temporary workers who will now be made permanent employees, and not enough gains for more senior workers.
Under terms of the deals matched at every company, workers get an immediate raise of at least 11%. It also guaranteed additional raises, which together with a return of a cost-of-living adjustment could raise wages more than 30% over the life of the deal that runs through 2028. There were also improvements in retirement benefits and job security provisions.
But it did not achieve all of the bargaining goals set by the union going into the strike. The union pressed for a restoration of health care coverage for retirees, as well as a return of traditional pension plans for those hired since 2007, who now only have a 401(k) plan that doesn’t have a promised monthly payout.
Some members who have been with the company since before 2007 voiced the belief that the deal was better for more recent hires than for those legacy workers. GM has more of those senior workers than the other two automakers.
