Ford and GM workers rejected union agreement with companies – Kommersant

Employees of the Ford plant in Louisville (Kentucky), members of the United Automobile Workers (UAW), did not support the agreement. achieved previously by the trade union and the automaker after several weeks of strikes, reports Reuters,

According to the UAW, 55% of manufacturing workers voted against ratifying the agreement. At the same time, 69% of skilled trades workers voted in favor of the contract. The union did not provide general data on the voting results.

Earlier, General Motors (GM) workers opposed the ratification of a similar agreement. Thus, employees of Flint Assembly (Michigan), one of the company’s largest factories in the United States, opposed the agreement. A total of 51.8% of plant employees represented by the UAW voted against. Workers at three other small plants in Indiana and Michigan also refused to ratify the agreement.

The strike by workers at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis plants has become the largest in the United States in several decades. It began in mid-September and gradually spread to several dozen factories in the States, also to her have joined Canadian workers. In total, almost 50 thousand workers took part in the strike. Ford previously reportedthat losses from the strike amounted to $1.3 billion, GM announced losses of $800 million, Stellantis – €3 billion.

At the end of October, the companies agreed in turn over several years to increase workers’ wages by 25-30%, improve conditions for pension contributions and health insurance, etc. The UAW negotiated with all three automakers at the same time. According to Deutsche Bank estimates, the agreement with the union will increase costs for Ford by $6.2 billion, GM by $7.2 billion, and Stellantis by $6.4 billion.

Kirill Sarkhanyants