UAW Workers Ratify New Contract In A Major Victory For Labor.
“The United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified new contracts with Ford and Stellantis, along with a similar deal with General Motors will raise pay across the industry, force automakers to absorb higher costs and help reshape the auto business as it shifts away from gasoline-fueled vehicles.
Workers at Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Dodge and Ram vehicles, voted 68.8% in favor of the deal. Their approval brought to a close a contentious labor dispute that included name-calling and a series of punishing strikes that imposed high costs on the companies and led to significant gains in pay and benefits for UAW workers.
The deal at Stellantis passed by a roughly 10,000 vote margin, with ballot counts ending Saturday afternoon.”
The Big Three Automakers probably knew they were going to have a fight on their hand when it came to negotiating a new labor contract in the post pandemic suddenly pro-union era. The UAW certainly had the wind at their backs and used it to their advantage when striking a remarkably generous new package of wages and benefits. The major auto companies now have the responsibility of turning a profit with higher fixed costs and a supply chain that still remains tenuous at best.
