GM deal rejected by some plants

The ground-breaking labor pact between the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. has an estimated 60 percent approval from rank-and-file members so far, but is facing pockets of resistance, including rejection by workers at two major plants that have been promised work.

Just days before Wednesday's voting deadline set by the UAW, the results from union locals representing more than 39,000 of GM's 73,454 active UAW workers are in. Of the estimated 27,570 votes counted, more than 16,800 are in favor of the landmark deal that turns retiree health care obligations over to the UAW through a GM-funded trust; creates a two-tier wage system; and makes specific product promises to plants.

The deal, which needs a simple majority to pass, is not yet sealed. Not enough votes have been counted to make the outcome certain. The rejection rate in recent days does not appear to put ratification at risk.

The largest GM local -- Lansing's 602, which represents about 3,500 workers -- approved the deal by a 61 percent margin, Local 602 president Doug Rademacher said Friday. The Lansing/Delta Township facility is among 16 assembly plants that have secured product commitments in the contract.

"I'm pleased, really pleased," Rademacher said. "It's significant in a lot of ways to us, because we have flow-back people from other plants, including Delphi. We have a fair number of temporary workers who voted."

He was referring to the support of workers who have been laid off from other plants, including from auto supplier Delphi, and other recent hires who took jobs without the promise of permanent work.

"For that large of a cross section of UAW members to approve this, well that says a great deal about the benefits of this contract," Rademacher said.

Romulus plant rejects pact

Those benefits weren't enough at at least two plants. Workers at the Romulus engine plant and the Wentzville, Mo., assembly plant rejected the agreement despite those facilities getting the promise of future work.

About 1,100 of 1,400 workers in Romulus voted and just more than half said no.

Local 163 President Larry Long was surprised by the vote. "I can't pinpoint exactly what it was," he said. "Sometimes people look at something and see how it's going to affect them."

At the Wentzville plant, the largest local thus far to reject the tentative contract, 69 percent of workers voted no. Workers at a Powertrain facility in Massena, N.Y., that will be closed in December rejected the deal Wednesday.

Some unclear about changes

The 60 percent approval rate so far doesn't surprise auto analyst Dave Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, who noted that fellow CAR analyst Sean McAlinden estimated the pact would be ratified with an approval rate in the 60 percent range.

Local presidents said those vast changes confused some workers. For example, many were unclear about the difference between a core and noncore job, said Jim Zent, president of Local 2209 in Fort Wayne, Ind., where the deal passed but with less than 51 percent voting yes.

The agreement calls for GM to make an initial $24.1 billion payment into the retiree trust and pay the union another $5.4 billion to cover retire health costs until the fund begins paying benefits in 2010.

The union, in turn, agreed to allow a second-tier wage and benefit structure for workers assigned to those 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.

GM also committed to delivering new products or continuing current lines at 16 of its assembly plants and dozens of other facilities. Workers also will get substantial bonuses in every year of the four-year contract.

Workers were bound to be nervous about putting in place changes as major as the retiree trust and a new system of wages, said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at University of California, Berkeley. The two-tier concept has been fought for many years and some workers won't be willing to accept the idea under any circumstances. Also, GM is not as fragile as it was even a year ago. "They have the confidence today to vote no," he said.

Shaiken expects the deal will pass, but not by a huge margin.

GM vote is influential

In UAW bargaining, the membership's vote on the tentative deal with the lead "target" company, in this case GM, can sway union leaders' decision on how to proceed with the other carmakers. On Friday, the UAW picked Chrysler to negotiate with next in this year's talks, sources familiar with the situation said. It is not clear if the status of GM voting played a role in that choice.

Traditionally, a wide margin of victory on the initial contract gives negotiators confidence that workers will support similar deals with the other automakers. A narrow victory can signal the deal may need to be reconfigured to ease workers' concerns.

When the UAW and GM struck a deal in 2005 that shifted more medical costs to retirees, more than 60 percent of workers approved. When the same deal was brought to Ford, only 51 percent voted in favor. That narrow margin may have prevented the deal from going before workers at Chrysler, which at the time was seen as a much stronger company than Ford or GM.

The sweeping provisions in this deal, however, change that rule, analyst Cole said.

"There is lot of change embedded in this contract," Cole said. "When you look at how much change is embedded in this contract, ratification of any number is good."