UPDATE: UAW Members Ratify Contracts with GM, Ford, and Stellantis
The United Auto Workers confirmed Monday that workers at all three major Detroit automaker—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—had voted to accept tentative agreements reached after strikes against all three.
Results at Ford and Stellantis came in the next Monday, November 20, and approved the tentative agreement by much higher margins: At Ford, the largest voting group, 69.3% of 38,504 participating union members voted to ratify, and at Stellantis, 70.0% of their 26,696 voting members did as well.
In all, 64% of UAW workers approved the contracts reached after the union’s six-week “Stand-Up Strike,” which saw the union call localized strikes for leverage. The contracts cover roughly 150,000 UAW-represented autoworkers.
“The members have spoken,” said UAW President Shawn Fain, in a statement. Fain added the UAW’s next priority is to “take our strike muscle and our fighting spirit to the rest of the industries we represent, and to millions of non-union workers.”
In a video statement released November 20, Gerald Johnson, Executive VP of GM Global Manufacturing, said the contract would “reward our team members, provides great product for our customers, and protects the future of our business.”
This is an updated story. The original story is below.
Two weeks after the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement with General Motors, UAW-represented employees have voted to ratify it. That’s according to the latest figures from the union, which show 54.7% of 36,000 ballots cast approving the deal with all voting GM factories reporting results as of Friday, November 18.
Ford and Stellantis both still have factories yet to vote on the deal, but workers at both are expected to ratify their own tentative agreements at higher margins than GM workers have. At both factories, votes in favor of the tentative agreement are enough for ratification even if all remaining workers vote against it.
Earlier UAW negotiations coverage:
- What’s Next for the UAW? 5 Takeaways from Labor Experts
- Ford, Stellantis, General Motors Plant Investments Promised to Win UAW Contracts
- UAW 'Squeezes Every Last Dime' Out of GM in Strike Talks
- GM, Stellantis Reach Tentative UAW Deals
- UAW, Ford Announce Tentative Agreement, Ending Strike for 20,000
- CFO: GM Will Need to ‘Look at Efficiencies Across the Board’ After New UAW Deal
- UAW Launches 2nd Surprise Strike, This Time at Dodge Ram Plant
- UAW Takes Swing with Surprise Strike at Kentucky Truck Plant
- UAW Strike Update—A New Strike at Mack Trucks, But No New Detroit 3 Sites
- UAW President Announces New Strike Targets
- UAW Workers Want Work-Life Balance. It's Exactly What the Industry Needs
- The UAW Strike Is a Test Case for Biden-omics
- UAW Expands Strike to 38 GM, Stellantis Parts Distribution Centers
- The ‘Unprecedented’ UAW Strike Was Very Predictable
- UAW Strike Update—Ford, GM Lay Off Workers
- Opinion: UAW Punches Well Above the Belt in its Stand Up Strike
- UAW Strike All But Certain
- What’s the Deal with the UAW Contract Talks? Labor Negotiations Explained
- UAW Votes to Authorize Strikes Against Big Three
That’s despite the significant similarities between the UAW’s tentative agreements with each company. After more than a month of the UAW’s “stand up strike,” the Detroit 3 automakers agreed to 25% base wage increases, increased cost-of-living allowances, and the elimination of controversial wage tiers.
While Ford’s large Detroit-area factories have yet to weigh in, the margin in favor of the contract in the rest of the country is large enough that even with unanimous rejection, the agreement will still pass. The company’s Kentucky Truck Plant voted to reject it with a 54.5% margin, but overall the movement to adopt the contract leads by 10,675 votes.
At Stellantis, the company’s large Detroit plants ensured the success of the tentative agreement. Toledo Jeep Assembly, one of the first UAW plants to go on strike during this round of bargaining, rejected the UAW-negotiated contract, with 54.9% of 3,824 voting workers voting against ratification. But Toledo Jeep was outvoted by the company’s other locations, including its Detroit-area Jefferson North Assembly and Detroit Assembly Mack plants, which both voted to approve the contract by 70.7% and 78.3%, respectively.
Stellantis UAW workers are expected to finish voting by Tuesday, November 22, but the company’s few small remaining locations will not change the outcome: The vote to accept the agreement is currently leading by 10,902 votes and a margin of 69.6%.
About the Author
Ryan Secard
Associate Editor
As talent editor, Ryan Secard reports on workforce and labor issues in manufacturing, including recruitment, labor organizations, and safety. Ryan has written IndustryWeek's Salary Survey annually since 2021 and coordinated its Talent Advisory Board since 2023. He joined IndustryWeek in 2020 as a news editor covering breaking manufacturing news.
Ryan also contributes to American Machinist and Foundry Management & Technology as an associate editor.