What's Going On With The UAW Deal With GM?
On Thursday, United Auto Workers Vice President Cindy Estrada told local union officials that she would recommend to union President Dennis Williams that the labor group ratify its contract with General Motors despite its rejection by skilled trades workers, according to Automotive News.
On Friday, Williams announced on the UAW’s website that the union would go back to GM to discuss those workers’ issues with the proposed contract that was approved more than one week ago. On Friday afternoon, Estrada announced in a separate letter that she would support further negotiation with the automaker over skilled trades workers’ concerns.
Um, what’s going on?
Workers at GM plants voiced their concerns on the union’s Facebook page after Estrada’s announcement.
This is absolutely absurd. Ford will have a contract ratified before we will and ours started a week before. Why in the world is there an extension made? So because of Skilled Trades, I have to wait ANOTHER WEEK for something that passed. Great job, UAW.
According to the union, nearly 56 percent of union workers agreed to a proposed contract with the automaker that would grant pay raises, profit sharing and other financial bonuses for workers. However, a majority of skilled trades workers rejected that deal, based in part, because of broader job definitions that could result in multiple duties. Skilled trades workers reportedly also took exception from being excluded from a $60,000 buyout for workers near retirement.
According to the Detroit News, workers are worried about job safety if skilled trades workers are spread too thin.
“One of the biggest aspects is safety …” John Ilgenfritz, a skilled trades worker at GM’s Wentzville Assembly Plant in Missouri told the Detroit News. “Someone is going to get hurt and it’s going to be because of this.”
Union officials extended its 2011 contract with the automaker to work through its proposed contract.
Even if skilled trades workers reject the contract, union officials may cement the deal with GM. That happened in 2011 when Chrysler skilled trades workers rejected their deal that was ultimately approved by the union.
More by Aaron Cole
Comments
Join the conversation
The United Auto Workers don't seem so united right now. I guess I don't understand how this system works.
Watching HDC & Big Al discuss how collective bargaining works reminds me of my lower-level classes trying to discuss the presidency. It's full of misconceptions and outright silliness. For the most part this hangup is a mixture of job security and job safety. It's nice of interesting to use a random person on FB for a quote to get 'union sentiment' or anything else. But I'm not exactly worried about the UAW. The future is actually looking better for collective bargaining as various economists are starting to support a more corporatist relationship between capital and labor but is unlikely to change until chunks of taft-hartley and thrown away and that looks increasingly likely in a new 5-4/6-3 supreme court. Especially if this current court makes more aggressive changes (essentially opening the door to unraveling them immediately and solidifying decades of control).