Franchise News

GM Workers Voting on Labor Deal Between UAW and GM, Deal Gets Mixed Results

Nov 02, 2015 12:00 AM EST | By Jean-Claude Arnobit

Workers at General Motors Company (GM) are voting to ratify a tentative labor agreement that the United Auto Workers union (UAW) reached with GM last week, according to a report from The Buffalo News.

The tentative agreement has already gotten mixed results from GM workers, as workers from one plant rejected the deal and workers from another plant approved it.

The Detroit Free Press reported that UAW Local 652, which represents workers in Lansing Grand River in Michigan, voted 57 percent in favor of the labor agreement.

GM workers at UAW Local 31 at the Fairfax plant in Kansas City in Missouri has voted against the deal with 63 percent of production workers voted no and 66 percent of skilled workers were against the deal.

The Buffalo News adds that voting of GM workers will continue throughout the week with workers at two more GM plants expected to vote on Thursday, November 5, 2015.

Voting is expected to wrap up by Sunday, November 8, 2015.

The Wall Street Journal adds that the mixed results show that the UAW still has a lot of work ahead if it wants GM workers to ratify the new four-year contract.

The UAW represents 52,700 GM workers with most of them voting this week to approve the tentative agreement that promises an $8,000 signing bonus and a pay raise for entry-level workers over an eight-year period.

Martin Tutwiler, a worker who joined GM seven years ago, told The Wall Street Journal that he hoped the UAW would be able to "end the wage gap instead of having multi-year progressions      due to GM's huge, record profits."

"I feel that the workers have made huge sacrifices and should be made whole for all losses and rewarded," he said.

Tutwiler told The Wall Street Journal that he still expects the agreement to pass due to the signing bonus.

The Buffalo News adds that regular workers are not the only ones who will be getting a bonus, as temporary workers will also receive a bonus if the deal is ratified.

Temporary workers, who have worked for at least 90 days, will get a $2,000 signing bonus.

The Detroit Free Press adds that if the agreement is ratified UAW will switch its negotiations with Ford Motor Company.

If the deal is not ratified, GM and UAW will return to the negotiations table.

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