The members of the United Auto Workers at Stellantis have ratified the new labor contract following the agreement between the union and the automaker after a lengthy negotiation, according to the preliminary results published on Friday by the union. A deal with General Motors received 54.7% support from UAW-GM members who voted, according to preliminary results. UAW members with Ford Motor are on track to ratify their agreement as well, but voting will continue on Friday. The majority of Stellantis facilities overwhelmingly approved the agreement, which, like GM and Ford, includes salary increases of at least 25%. The agreement also involves the reopening of an Illinois plant that had been inactive for an indefinite period.
New labor contract ratified by UAW employees at Stellantis in the U.S.
The agreement was supported by 68.4% of the over 26,000 Stellantis automotive sector workers who voted. There were still some smaller facilities to finalize the vote, but in those locations, there weren’t enough employees to offset the margin of about 9,650 votes. The agreement with Stellantis faced significant opposition in the Jeep plants of the automaker in Toledo, Ohio, with 55% of workers against the agreement. In other factories, however, workers ratified the pact by a large majority. Contract ratifications come a few weeks after automakers and the union reached provisional agreements, ending about six weeks of targeted strikes by the UAW.
It’s worth noting that this agreement between Stellantis and the UAW was reached after weeks of strikes that cost the automotive group billions of euros due to the halted production of cars. For the union and its president, Shawn Fain, the agreements offer significant economic benefits, a way to secure future jobs for union members like those in battery factories, and a foundation for organizing efforts at other non-unionized automakers operating in the United States – a future priority for Fain. The union stated that the improvements in the agreement are valued at more than four times the gains from the 2019 contract and provide higher basic wage increases than what workers have received in the past 22 years.