Ford Workers in Louisville Reject New Contract

At UAW Local 588, which represents about 1,125 workers at the Chicago Heights plant, 55 percent of skilled trade workers and 60 percent of production workers voted to ratify the national deal, according to the Facebook page of UAW 551, which represents workers at the Far South Side plant. “And they don’t understand the process, so we try to do the best we possibly can to educate them on the process”. For decades, the UAW has worked to craft similar agreements with all Detroit automakers so no single company has an advantage, or disadvantage, over the other when it comes to labor rates. “Many of the membership at the truck plant are from closed plants and this is huge”. But within that tally, a majority of skilled trades workers turned it down, complicating its ratification. Rank-and-file UAW members employed by Fiat Chrysler rejected a national contract earlier this fall. Dziczek said. “But that’s in a world where the UAW has more power now than it does and more members”.

“We have no doubt that Volkswagen can make a comeback in the USA and around the world, but the company needs to refocus on its core principles”, he said. Those so-called second-tier workers previously topped out just above $19 an hour.

In addition to Local 862 at the Louisville Assembly and Kentucky Truck plants, the deal has been voted down easily at an axle plant in Sterling Heights, Mich.; a stamping plant in Buffalo, New York; a parts plant in Ypsilanti, Mich.; and engine plants in Cleveland and Lima, Ohio. The current deal includes a three percent raise, an $8,500 signing bonus and billions in company investment.

He and other UAW officials appealed to Ford workers still to vote to support the deal or risk losing a few of the $9 billion in investments in US factories that Ford has promised in the agreement.

Samples said a few workers objected to the contract language that says it will take a new worker eight years to reach top scale.

Williams adds in the press release that they have met with skilled trades member at each GM worksite late last week to determine the issues for the rejection of the tentative agreement.

“If they don’t get what they want, they could go on strike and shut down the whole facility”, said Raudabaugh, a law professor at Ave Maria University. It was three years under the previous contract.

The new office will be located near the General Motors plant in the Nashville suburb of Spring Hill.

“FCA did not – and GM and Ford will not – get more if they go back to the table”, Ms. Dziczek said.

A woman named Sherry, who works in KTP’s paint department, said she’s a 21-year employee who deserves more.

“Listen, the plans that Ford is making with regard to product placement and product development – that is made well in advance of contract negotiations”.