LANSING -- The massive informational campaign to inform 73,000 United Auto Workers members of a groundbreaking national labor contract with General Motors Corp. continued this afternoon with regional meetings nationwide for local UAW officials.
Presidents of plant-level union locals from across the country were briefed on the tentative contract Friday in Detroit and unanimously endorsed it.
Many regional officers and retirees who met at the Lansing Center Saturday for three and half hours praised the deal, citing the unprecedented promises to secure the jobs of thousands of workers for years; future product commitments to U.S. plants; and the creation of a GM-financed trust fund to be controlled by the union that will pay for retiree health care.
"I think everybody wins, GM has invested in America," said Jesse W. Perry, a UAW officer in Flint.
GM promised Detroit the job of building its car of the future, the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt. The Volt will be built at GM's Hamtramck plant beginning in 2010, provided GM has the battery technology needed to power the car. The Hamtramck factory is one of six assembly plants in Michigan given specific product commitments in the contract.
"It's not perfect, but it's as close as we are going to get," said Danny Wood, another local officer from Flint. " We could have lost so many jobs and we had so many retirees worried about losing their benefits."
The deal is subject to ratification by GM's rank-and-file workers represented by the UAW. That vote should be completed by Oct. 10. Informational meetings for the rank-and-file members begin as soon as Sunday and most locals will stage votes starting early next week.
The proposed national contract is a costly proposition for GM despite landmark concessions from the union.
The automaker will make an initial $24.1 billion payment into a union-run retiree health trust, and pay the union another $5.4 billion to cover retire health costs until the fund begins paying benefits in 2010, according to a summary of the deal obtained Friday by The Detroit News.
"It's much more concrete in the promises than I thought," said Stan Washington, a Grand Blanc area retiree who worked for GM for 35 years.
The union, in turn, agreed to allow a second-tier wage and benefit structure for workers assigned to "noncore" jobs, such as driving finished vehicles, chemical management and paint mixing. Those workers will make as little as $14 an hour -- less than half the current average wage -- and receive a less generous benefits package.
Many local officials say they felt the two-tier wage was a sacrifice they must reluctantly accept.
Details in the contract summary include a rare peek at GM's product lineup, as well as specific product commitments for 16 assembly plants in 11 states.
The lineup detailed in the contract summary goes through 2013 and includes a luxury SUV for Cadillac, a pickup version of the Hummer H3 and a new Chevy four-door, as well as the Volt.
