UAW members at GM ratify contract with 54.7% approval in nationwide vote

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By SHERI GASSAWAY
Missouri Correspondent

GM CONTRACT APPROVED: UAW Local 2250 members who were on the strike line at the Wentzville General Motors plant now have a record new contract. Nationwide, almost 36,000 UAW members voted by 54.7 percent to approve the agreement. – UAW Local 2250 photo

Wentzville, MO – UAW members across the nation have approved the tentative agreement with General Motors by 54.7 percent.

UAW Local 2250 members at the GM assembly plant in Wentzville voted against the tentative agreement, as did members at seven of GM’s 11 U.S. assembly plants. One plant that helped push the deal through was GM’s Arlington Assembly in Texas, where GM builds its big SUVs. At Arlington, 2,051 members voted to ratify the deal and 1,323 voted against it, according to the UAW’s vote tracker.

Nationwide, some 36,000 of the 48,000 union members who work for GM turned out to vote.

The UAW achieved record contracts with the Big Three automakers after six weeks of rolling strikes that began on Sept. 15. UAW members at the Wentzville plant were among the first called on to walk out in a series of targeted strikes that grew in number as negotiations dragged on. The strike ended on Oct. 30.

“I’m happy they approved it and the members voted to pass it,” said Darin Gilley, former financial secretary for Local 2250. “Now we’ll look forward to asking for the things we didn’t get in this contract as we head into negotiations in 2028, including pensions, retiree healthcare and more work-life balance.”

CONTRACT HIGHLIGHTS
The GM contract is similar to deals announced with Ford and Stellantis and includes:

  • A 25 percent wage increase over the four and a half year contract. Members would receive an 11 percent immediately; three percent over the next three years and five percent increase in the last year.
  • $5,000 ratification bonus.
  • Revival of cost-of-living adjustments.
  • A shorter timeline to reach top wage.
  • A pathway for employees at future battery plants to become unionized under the union’s master agreement.

A GOOD CONTRACT
Glenn Kage, former Local 2250 president and current chairman of the Local 2250 Community Action Program, told KSDK-TV that it’s a good contract.

“In no contract does everybody get everything that they want,” he told the station. “I have been around for a long time and in my 40-plus years as a union member and union activist for most of them, I have never seen a contract that makes everybody happy, it just doesn’t happen.”

UAW members at Ford and Stellantis also approved their contracts.

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