Apparently, FCA-UAW Workers Don't Really Like Proposed Deal

United Auto Workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Jefferson North Assembly Plant and its Kokomo Transmission Plant voted down a contract proposal over the weekend, marking the latest and perhaps the most significant defeat to the union’s proposal, the Detroit Free Press reported.

According to reports, 66 percent of the workers, who build Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durangos at the Jefferson facility, vetoed the contract.

The contract faces an uncertain future with the rest of UAW workers at FCA, and while overall passage is mathematically possible, the growing rate of rejection doesn’t look particularly promising.

According to the Detroit Free Press, workers were unhappy about the retention of the “tiered” pay system that keeps veteran, Tier 1 workers and newly hired, Tier 2 workers at different pay rates.

“I can’t see how the International (UAW) was thinking about us in this contract. I don’t think they had our best interests in mind,” Mike Kirkpatrick, who has worked at the Mack Avenue Engine Complex for nearly two years, told the Detroit News. “They promised to get rid of the two tier system and they did just the opposite and created a bunch of tiers.”

Parts suppliers and axle operations workers said the contract created a third “tier” that keeps those workers at a lower wage than Tier 2 workers. Those workers last week rejected the proposed contract last week.

UAW President Dennis Williams said last week that those workers could apply, and receive priority applications for, higher-paying factory jobs.

Workers also say that the contract didn’t reduce the number of FCA workers who were hired as lower-paid, Tier 2 workers. Roughly 45 percent of FCA workers are Tier 2 employees.

Voting on the contract will continue until Wednesday at larger plants including Sterling Heights, Michigan and Warren, Indiana.

If the contract is rejected overall, it could force union negotiators back to the table with FCA or workers at the plants could strike.