DOWNTOWN — Following a few major plants’ recent votes against the tentative agreement, the United Auto Workers and General Motors are once again moving toward ratification, according to ongoing voting results released by the union on Wednesday.
By Wednesday afternoon, the union had finalized the votes of about 30,700 autoworkers, and about 54% of them supported the deal. At a few small facilities, results were still pending. A local chapter reported that a crossover plant in mid-Michigan had voted 60% against the pact.
The deal’s widespread approval represents a shift in the vote after several significant assembly plants in Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, which together employ over 19,000 of GM’s approximately 50,000 union workers under the tentative agreement, voted against it and raised doubts about its future.
Approximately 60% of production workers and 65% of skilled trades union workers voted in favor of the agreement later on Wednesday morning at GM’s Arlington Assembly plant in Texas, which employs 4,900 autoworkers. A joint venture battery plant that is now part of the tentative agreements received 1,313 votes, or 96%, in favor of the agreement.
Until the results are finalized, neither GM nor the UAW would comment.
The results of the ongoing voting by UAW members with Stellantis, the parent company of Ford Motor and Chrysler, have mostly favored the deals. It is anticipated that voting will end by Friday. The union has not stated when the results will be tallied.
Every automaker is voted on separately because the UAW reached tentative agreements with each of them separately. Their ratification is independent of one another.
Similar to the agreements at Ford and Stellantis, the record deal at GM also includes other benefits like cost-of-living adjustments and a 25% pay increase.
However, UAW members—particularly those who have worked for a long time—have expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement, pointing to the unrealistic expectations Fain set when he demanded—and ultimately was unable to achieve—a 32-hour workweek and improved retirement benefits.
On a percentage basis, GM employs the greatest number of traditional workers, followed by Ford and Stellantis. Stellantis also depends more on contract laborers, most of whom will eventually transition to full-time positions and be eligible for top compensation.
For UAW President Shawn Fain, a rejection at GM would be a black mark in the negotiations. Despite his assertion that union members have the last word on contracts, he and other union leaders have applauded the historic agreement, claiming to have negotiated every last penny from the automakers.
