United Auto Workers (UAW) members strike at a General Motors assembly plant that builds the U.S. automaker’s full-size sport utility vehicles, in another expansion of the strike in Arlington, Texas, October 24, 2023.
James Breeden | Reuters
DETROIT – United Auto Workers members at General Motors appear very close to voting down a tentative union deal that ended roughly six weeks of labor strikes against the automaker.
A majority of UAW members at several major GM plants, including at an SUV plant in Arlington, Texas, have voted against the pact, in most cases with a result of between 55% and 60% against. The facilities combined represent more than 23,00, or half, of GM’s 46,000 union employees.
Voting results at a number of smaller GM facilities are unknown or yet to be finalized. Several small facilities as well as assembly plants in Michigan and Kansas have voted in favor of the deal.
The UAW declined to comment. GM did not immediately respond to request for comment.
A rejection of the deal, which was reached Oct. 30, would prolong a historically contentious round of negotiations between the UAW and Detroit automakers. Similar tentative agreements at Ford Motor and Stellantis have thus far received higher voter approvals among those automakers’ unionized workforces.
As of Wednesday morning, the UAW had not updated its vote tracker for GM to reflect several plants that voted against the deal. As of midday Tuesday — before majorities of workers at Arlington, GM’s Corvette plant in Kentucky, a Buick and Chevrolet crossover plant in Michigan, and truck plants in Missouri and Indiana voted against the pact — the agreement had a 52% approval.
It’s become more common in recent years for UAW members to reject tentative agreements: Workers at Fiat Chrysler, now Stellantis, voted down a deal during talks in 2015, and Mack Trucks rejected a contract proposal last month.
If the GM deal is voted down, UAW President Shawn Fain and other union leaders will need to decide how…
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