UAW Ratifies Contract Modifications With GM
DETROIT (PAI)--By a 74%-26% margin, voters among the remaining 60,000 UAW members at General Motors ratified contract modifications with the automaker, union President Ron Gettelfinger announced. The ratification came just before the bankruptcy GM filed on June 1, and gave workers a stronger position going into it.
Pact details that were revealed give UAW up to a 20% stake in a reorganized, smaller GM, in return for a smaller sum going from GM to fund health care for retirees. UAW is taking over that plan next year.
GM also agreed to start building subcompact cars in UAW-organized factories in the U.S., even as it plans to slash overall employment by 21,800 jobs and close 14 factories. The cars would replace planned GM imports from China and increase U.S.-made cars from two-thirds of GM’s worldwide output to 70%. UAW also agreed to a no-strike clause through 2015.
"GM is going to have a clean balance sheet when this is over," Gettelfinger told a press conference. He said the contract modifications are "a dramatic reduction in benefits and a lot of risk for the future" for retirees. He also said they were absolutely necessary to preserve autoworkers’ jobs at GM.