UAW-GM contract vote too close to call as 7 assembly plants reject deal

DETROIT --- Workers at seven of General Motors Co.'s 11 U.S. assembly plants have voted against the company's tentative labor agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW), but the deal's chances of ratification improved Wednesday after getting support from a key SUV factory in Texas.

About 60% of production workers in Arlington, Texas, voted in favor of the proposed contract. That result followed rejections by union locals at GM plants n Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and three plants in Michigan.

A vote count published by the union Wednesday morning showed the tentative agreement passing by a margin of 52 % to 48%t. Nearly 64% of skilled trades workers were in support of the tentative agreement, while it was losing by 19 votes among production workers, out of nearly 19,000 tallied.

The official count doesn't yet include the results from Arlington Assembly, where GM builds full-size SUVs. It also doesn't account for Lansing Delta Township Assembly in Michigan and Fort Wayne Assembly in Indiana, both of which turned down the deal, according to percentage totals released Wednesday by local union officials.

Workers at other assembly plants in Lansing and Flint, Mich., and Spring Hill, Tenn., previously rejected the agreement.

The union can declare the agreement ratified if it's supported by a majority of total votes, though in past negotiations it has revisited specific issues when a deal has failed among skilled trades workers. Production workers significantly outnumber skilled trades and rarely vote less favorably on contracts.

The union said only 36% of production workers at Local 652, which represents Lansing Grand River and two nearby stamping plants, voted in favor, as did 46 percent of production workers at Wentzville. At Fort Wayne, 37% of production workers supported the deal, according to results confirmed by Local 2209. Skilled trades workers at all three sites voted to approve the deal.

GM has declined to comment while ratification voting is under way.

The tentative deal increases top wages by 25% over the next four and a half years, matching the union's agreements with Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis N.V., where ratification votes also continue. Including restored cost-of-living adjustments, the UAW said, veteran workers would see their pay rise about 33 percent over the course of the contract, to $42.95 an hour.