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Lordstown leaders hoping approval drives expansion
By Karl Henkel
LORDSTOWN
Jim Graham admitted he hadn’t slept well the past couple of nights leading up to United Auto Workers Local 1112’s vote on the tentative contract with General Motors Co.
But even after the 81 UAW locals nationwide ratified the contract with 65 percent of production and 63 percent of skilled trades workers voting in favor — which included his 3,200-member shop — Graham says he still won’t be able to sleep.
“It’s going to take a few days to come down off this,” he said Wednesday.
More than 70 percent of Local 1112, which assembles the Chevrolet Cruze, voted in favor of the new four-year agreement, which includes a $5,000 signing bonus per worker, slight wage increases for Tier 2 workers and simplified profit-sharing calculations.
Tier 2, or entry-level workers, represent 5 percent of GM’s 48,500 hourly workers.
The deal will increase GM’s labor costs by 1 percent annually during the next four years, the company said Wednesday.
Seventy-four percent of Lordstown production workers voted for the contract; so did 69 percent of skilled trades workers. Graham said more than 90 percent of workers cast votes.
Ben Strickland, shop chairman, said Local 1112 had the highest percentage of “yes” votes of any local union that had not specifically been promised new investments as part of the contract.
“This sends a huge message to Detroit and the corporation and the international union,” Graham said. “It gives us a better foothold on trying to procure new projects.”
What those projects could be is still under wraps.
Graham said the Cruze is scheduled to be built in Lordstown through model year 2014, and this contract ratification likely will be used to lobby for a project beyond that.
That year coincidentally is the first model year in which the diesel Cruze will be built, but GM has made no formal announcement on its assembly location.
But The Vindicator this week learned that GM is exploring a possible expansion project at Lordstown. Strickland said the likely new product is a variant of the Cruze, the best-selling compact car four months running.
Graham said that both he and Strickland will head to Detroit “in the next month or two” to discuss possible new projects.
Strickland said they’ll use the strong ratification numbers as a selling point for Lordstown.
“This is a respect issue,” he said. “The better respect you have, the better position you’re in.”
Strickland also said as many as 150 previously outsourced jobs may return to Lordstown’s Assembly Plant sometime next year, but did not elaborate on specific positions.
Lordstown’s second union, Local 1714, which has 1,450 members, ratified the national vote Saturday, with 57 percent of workers voting for the contract.
Local 1112’s new local agreement came with no concessions for the first time in three contracts, Graham said.
Dave Green, president of Local 1714, said his shop still is in local negotiations.
Green said there is no timetable for contract completion, but he hopes to “have something done this week.”