“A lot of people were unprepared and couldn’t hold out as long as they needed to.” Ford versus GM “People were desperate for money,” said Crawford. Crawford and Yakim believe the ratification happened because strikers voted their pocketbook. UAW members at GM ratified the contract on Oct. 17 meeting in Detroit chanting, "No product, no vote." They wanted the council to reject the proposed tentative agreement with GM if the deal did not restart Lordstown. All are closed but Detroit-Hamtramck, where GM agreed to invest $3 billion to build an electric pickup, other electric vehicles and battery modules.Ībout 50 protesters showed up at the UAW National GM Council's Oct. plants: Detroit-Hamtramck, Lordstown and transmission plants in Warren and Baltimore. Product allocation was a touchy subject for union members following GM's decision in November 2018 to close four U.S. Therefore, if UAW members did not ratify the tentative agreement and remained on strike, GM could protest it was an illegal strike if the rejection was due to an issue over product allocation. That issue is considered "a permissive bargaining issue" only.
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It would be illegal for a union to strike over product allocation to plants. The union remained on strike until the tentative agreement was ratified. Listing detailed product investment and plant allocation was tricky for the UAW's GM Department, labor experts said. manufacturing and the closures of three plants. A UAW spokesman said the union outlined in its highlights GM's total investment in U.S. More: Here's the list of Ford's $6B in plant, product investment commitments Lordstown protestĪ spokesman for GM declined to comment on the lack of detailed plant investments, saying it was a UAW decision. More: Ford, UAW reach tentative agreement on labor contract in 3 days More: Strike over! UAW workers ratify contract with GM. 15 to vote on ratification for the proposal. “The details were scant to say the least at General Motors and the lack of equality in pay and lack of job security were the two biggest reasons I voted 'no' on the contract," said Crawford. But he and Yakim think workers should have remained on strike longer to get a deal with promised and detailed job security. There, GM builds its top-selling Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, so Crawford isn't worried that GM will idle his factory. "I don’t think we got what we needed to get," said Crawford, who works at Flint Assembly. manufacturing over the next four years and create or retain 8,500 jobs. It outlines exactly where Ford would invest $6 billion in U.S. "But I think GM gave more in some critical areas that wouldn’t have been possible absent the strike."īut second-guessing is what some UAW members are doing in light of seeing the detailed Ford investments released Friday in that tentative agreement. "It is easy to second guess it after the fact," said Shaiken. The GM strike was effective, said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in labor.
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UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said the strike achieved gains for the union membership. "There will be substantial investments based on commitments outlined in the GM contract over the next four years," he said.