A tentative contract agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union appears to be on the verge of being rejected.
The union has not yet released the vote total, but staff at five primary factories that finished voting in recent days rejected the four-year, eight-month deal by wide margins.
Tracking the votes on the UAW’s website shows that the deal won with 686 votes. But those totals don’t include votes from GM’s meeting plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Wentzville, Missouri; Lansing Delta Township and Lansing Grand River in Michigan, as well as a propulsion systems plant in Toledo, Ohio, voted against the deal, according to local union officials.
In most cases, total votes against the contract ranged from 55% to about 60%.
Workers were awaiting totals from a meeting plant in Arlington, Texas, but many said they expected the contract to be rejected.
It’s unclear exactly what will happen next, but local union leaders don’t expect an immediate strike once the final totals are known.
Meanwhile, UAW staff at General Motors’ Spring Hill plant in Tennessee voted against a proposed contract, even as the union’s president said Tuesday in Washington that the deal is still on track to be approved.
Shawn Fain told reporters on Capitol Hill that early voting is trending positively.
“The initial effects are very favorable,” he said.
The local union in each status quo will have to vote on the tentative agreement, but only the overall vote count determines the outcome.
Of the total votes in Spring Hill, 68% opposed the deal.
Voting continues at Ford, where the deal is moving through approval with 66. 1% in favor so far, with some primary plants still counting.
The contract passed by an overwhelming majority in early voting at Jeep maker Stellantis. Tracking the union’s votes shows that 79. 7% voted in favor, while many primary factories are yet to be completed.
Local union officials say seniors were dissatisfied because they did not receive bigger pay increases than new staff and were seeking a larger increase in their pensions.
The new workers were looking for a pension plan with greater benefits than the stated contribution plan they currently have.
VIEW | A Stellantis worker reacts to the ratified agreement with the Canadian union Unifor:
Tony Totty, president of the local union at the Toledo power plant, said the environment is right to ask for more from the company.
“We have to get to the moment,” he said.
“Who knows what the next environment will be for national agreements. Companies are never challenged to tell us that we have to make concessions in times of economic crisis. Why shouldn’t we get the economic deal in times of economic prosperity?”
Thousands of UAW members joined the picket lines in targeted action against Detroit automakers for six weeks before tentative agreements were reached that expired last month.
Instead of striking against one company, the union plants individually at the three automakers.
At its peak last month, about 46,000 of Detroit’s 146,000 businesses were on picket lines.
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