UAW OKs new pact with GM

Staff/wire report

DETROIT

The United Auto Workers union has approved its contract with General Motors Co. after addressing the objections of some workers.

Production workers ratified the agreement earlier this month by a 55.4 percent majority. But skilled trades workers like electricians and pipefitters rejected it, which sent negotiators back to the table.

The UAW says the agreement now addresses those workers’ concerns about job classifications and seniority rights. The union’s executive board ratified the agreement Friday.

The contract covers 52,700 workers at 63 U.S. facilities, including about 4,500 workers at the Lordstown GM Complex. It raises wages and promises $8.3 billion in U.S. factory investments over four years.

GM said the agreement is good for workers and for its business.

Robert Morales, UAW Local 1714 president, expressed satisfaction with the agreement’s current form, adding that negotiators worked to address the concerns of skilled workers through provisions such as placement of at least 400 new skilled apprentices. Two hundred of those apprentices will be added next year.

The 1714 chapter represents about 1,400 members who currently work at the GM assembly plant in Lordstown, where the Chevrolet Cruze is manufactured.

Another local chapter, UAW 1112, represents about 3,500 Lordstown workers.

Raises will take effect Monday, but the two-week extension before ratification delays payment of $8,000 signing bonuses for GM workers until after Thanksgiving.

and the Black Friday weekend.

The extension also created tension in some plants between production workers, who approved the deal, and skilled-trades workers.

GM and Fiat Chrysler have now ratified agreements with the UAW. Ford workers were still voting Friday.