UAW to Give Workers More Time to Review Fiat Pact
October 11 2015 - 8:10PM
Dow Jones News
The United Auto Workers plans to give rank-and-file members more
than a week to review a revised tentative contract with Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles NV, a timetable aimed at giving skeptical
workers more time and information before voting on a deal that will
affect each of Detroit's three auto makers.
Voting on the pact, which was reached Wednesday night, is
currently slated for Oct. 20 and Oct. 21, according to local UAW
leaders. Although the dates could change, union leaders are
expected to spend the days leading up to the vote addressing
concerns that led to the rejection of the first proposed contract
late last month.
Informational meetings have been scheduled by local UAW offices.
At a local in Belvidere, Ill., for instance, an informational
meeting is scheduled for Fiat Chrysler workers Tuesday at three
different time slots and the vote will follow eight days later.
Many UAW members had complained the union had given too little
information about the first pact, and workers didn't have enough
time to review details that had been provided before voting.
UAW President Dennis Williams, speaking to reporters Friday,
said the communication plan represented a misstep, and said changes
would be made for the second attempt at ratification.
Mr. Williams's ability to secure a positive outcome this time
around will be closely watched by General Motors Co. and Ford Motor
Co. Although likely to push Mr. Williams to make amendments based
on their own business needs, GM, Ford and UAW negotiators will use
the Fiat Chrysler agreement as a rough template.
On Friday, he said he planned to spend the weekend reviewing GM
and Ford business plans so the leadership team can hammer out a
strategy for next steps beyond Chrysler. A UAW spokesman declined
to comment.
The UAW represents 40,000 Fiat Chrysler employees working at 23
factories and other facilities in the U.S., and a majority of them
voted down the company's initial four-year contract offer because
of concerns about pay increases, benefits and company investments.
Negotiators reworked the deal, winning a bigger raise, but the wage
bumps will only take place gradually and over the course of eight
years.
Other changes were made, including scrapping a health-care co-op
plan that raised concerns among members. In its revised pact, Fiat
Chrysler also gave workers gave more clarity on factory investment
plans and increased signing bonuses for higher-seniority
workers.
Still, members have raised objections to the new deal because of
how long it will take for entry-level workers to be lifted to $29
an hour from the current $19. While the new rate would put them on
par with longer-tenured factory workers, the eight-year window is
beyond the scope of the proposed four-year deal and doesn't
immediately kill the two-tier pay structure that the UAW aims to
someday eliminate.
Ford and GM negotiators are reluctant to lift hourly labor
costs, so a longer grow-in period for entry-level workers could be
welcomed by those auto makers. Fiat Chrysler has a much higher
percentage of entry-level workers at its factories than its
rivals.
Write to Jeff Bennett at jeff.bennett@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 11, 2015 20:55 ET (00:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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