GM contract would give some temps permanent jobs

LORDSTOWN — Judy Dean definitely will vote for the tentative labor agreement at General Motors — it gives her a job.

The 47-year-old Youngstown woman has been a temporary worker at GM’s Lordstown plant for parts of three years. Temporary workers earn 70 percent of full-scale union wages and don’t have benefits.

If the contract passes, Dean and about 3,000 temps across the country would be made permanent GM employees at $28 an hour. The Lordstown assembly plant has about 20 temps.

“I’m very blessed,” Dean said Friday after an information session at the United Auto Workers Local 1112 union hall.

Others who were interviewed said they were satisfied with the tentative agreement, which ended a two-strike last week. The local, which has 2,400 members, is scheduled to vote next week.

“We’ve got a job, and I think they did the best they could with this contract,” said Dorothy Crosby of Youngstown, who has been at the plant eight years.

The job security that the deal provides Lordstown was a constant theme among workers. GM had scheduled production of the Chevrolet Cobalt at the plant only until June 2009, but the UAW said the deal includes bringing new small- and mid-size models to the plant.

For more on this story, see Saturday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com.