UAW strike day 37: Tennessee workers vote down new contract with GM

Kalea Hall
The Detroit News

As more voting results trickle in from United Auto Workers locals, members of at least one local are showing their disapproval for the union's tentative agreement with General Motors Co.

Local 1853 members at the Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee voted down the contract 51% to 49% with skilled trades and production votes combined, according to unofficial results on the local's website. The skilled trades members alone approved the deal 55% to 45% while production members voted it down 51% to 49%.

Meanwhile, members of Local 14 at GM's Toledo Transmission plant approved the contract 80% to 20%, according to unofficial results on the local's website. Both skilled trades and production members overwhelmingly approved the contract. 

A member of UAW Local 1005 gives a thumbs up to drivers outside GM Parma plant on Brookpark Road on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Parma, Ohio. Bargainers for General Motors and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative contract deal on Wednesday that could end a monthlong strike that brought the company's U.S. factories to a standstill. (Gus Chan/The Plain Dealer via AP)

The 48,000 UAW members will continue to strike while they review details of the contract with GM and vote. Tuesday marks day 37 of the strike, one of the longest in GM's history.  

The UAW's new four-year deal with GM promises permanent jobs for temporary employees and the elimination of a $12,000 cap on profit sharing. It also promises an $11,000 bonus if members ratify the contract, which would effectively more than offset the financial losses members took in the strike. Temporary workers would receive a bonus of $4,500 upon ratification.

Members would also get 3% base-wage increases in the second and fourth years of the contract and would pay 4% lump-sum bonuses in the first and third years.

But the agreement also allows GM to close three plants: Baltimore Operations in Maryland, Lordstown Assembly in northeast Ohio and Warren Transmission in southeast Michigan.

khall@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @bykaleahall