Workers at Lordstown GM: Local contract isn’t so bad

By Don Shilling

Local labor contracts are expected to bring new models to Lordstown plants.

LORDSTOWN – Workers at the General Motors’ fabricating plant here seemed pleased with a local contract they will be voting on this week.

“Considering the times, I’d say it’s not that bad,” said Ron Duckworth, 60, of Deerfield. “It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be.”

Duckworth summed up the thoughts of several members of United Auto Workers Local 1714 who were interviewed Tuesday after hearing a presentation about the agreement that was reached last week. Voting will be Thursday and Friday.

“At least we wouldn’t be on strike, and everyone will have a job,” said one worker, who didn’t want to be identified.

Workers at two GM assembly plants are on strike over local contract negotiations, which cover plant-specific items such as work rules and job classifications.

Duckworth said union leaders at Local 1714 expect GM to bring new car models to Lordstown if local contracts pass at the fabricating and assembly plants. The fabricating plant, which employs about 1,000 hourly workers, produces metal parts for Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5, which are assembled next door.

Negotiations are continuing at UAW Local 1112 at the assembly plant.

GM and the UAW last year settled on a new national contract, which covers pay and benefits. In announcing that contract, UAW leaders in Detroit released a new product list which included new models coming to Lordstown in 2009 and 2010. GM isn’t talking about the future products, however.

Dave Green, president of Local 1714, declined to comment on the details of the local agreement at the fabricating plant.

He told The Plain Dealer this week, however, that the proposal would guarantee jobs for workers, and that if GM wants to bring in plumbers, electricians or other contractors to work at the plant, the union’s skilled trades workers would have the right to perform the work.

The contract calls for fewer skilled trades workers, however, and a reduction in skilled-trades classifications, Green said told the Cleveland newspaper.

Such concessions are nothing new for union members. In order to secure a massive upgrade for the Lordstown complex for production of the Cobalt, plant workers in 2001 approved a contract that reduced job classifications and installed teams that required workers to do more than one job.

The latest proposed changes don’t seem to be upsetting union members, said another worker who also didn’t want to be identified.

“It’s something we can live with. We just have to grin and bear it,” he said.

Another worker who didn’t want to be identified said he hopes workers will approve the local agreement. The union couldn’t expect to make many contract gains given that Detroit automakers are continuing to lose market share in the U.S. to foreign automakers. He said GM wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable in the agreement.

shilling@vindy.com