One down, two to go.
That’s where the contract signings stand after United Auto Workers union members voted to approve the new deal with General Motors in voting that finished up Thursday.
It’s the first of three deals UAW members are considering. Votes are expected to conclude over the weekend on tentative contracts with Ford Motor Co., and Stellantis NV.
The contract passed by just over 3,400 votes, with 54.7% in favor, a union spokesperson confirmed Thursday to The Associated Press.
The outcome was closer than expected after the UAW’s celebrations of victories last month on many key demands that led to six weeks of targeted walkouts against GM, Ford and Stellantis, the maker of Jeep and Ram vehicles.
On Thursday the contract had a big lead in voting at Ford and Stellantis, the AP reported. Ratification was leading at Ford by more than 10,000 votes, with 66.7% of ballots in favor. At Stellantis, the lead was over 5,700, with 66.5% voting for the deal, according to the UAW website.
Voting is expected to continue at Ford through early Saturday, with only two large factories in the Detroit area and some smaller facilities left to be counted. At Stellantis, three factories in the Detroit area were the only large plants yet to vote. That final vote is expected by Tuesday.
Assuming approval on the Ford and Stellantis deals, the contracts would raise pay for autoworkers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into a 33% wage gain. Top assembly plant workers would get immediate 11% raises and earn roughly $42 per hour when the contracts expire in April of 2028.
At GM, about 46,000 workers were eligible to vote on the deal, and about 36,000 cast ballots.
Keith Crowell, the local union president at GM’s Arlington plant, told the AP the factory has a diverse group of workers from full- and part-time temporary hires to longtime assembly line employees. Full-time temporary workers liked the large raises they received and the chance to get top union pay, he said. But many longtime workers didn’t think immediate pay raises were enough to make up for concessions granted to GM in 2008, he said.
“There was something in there for everybody, but everybody couldn’t get everything they wanted,” Crowell said. “At least we’re making a step in the right direction to recover from 2008.”
