More Ford Workers Show Opposition to Changes

According to a Wall Street Journal article, in Kentucky the chant on the shop floor is "beat Kansas City," referring to the 92% rejection of the contract at KCAP.

http://www.freep.com/article/20091027/BUSINESS01/91027022/1322/More-Ford-workers-show-opposition-to-changes

Posted: 10:07 a.m. Oct. 27, 2009 Updated: 3:30 p.m. today

More Ford workers show opposition to changes

By BRENT SNAVELY
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER


A majority of voters at three additional UAW units have voted to reject proposed cost-saving contract changes at Ford Motor Co., the Free Press learned today, providing additional evidence that opposition to the agreement is widespread.

The UAW represents 41,000 workers at Ford, and UAW locals representing more than 12,000, or 29% of autoworkers, have now concluded their vote.

Final ratification is based on a simple majority of the total votes cast by two separate classes: production workers and skilled-trades workers. Not all UAW locals that have completed voting have divulged precise tallies, and UAW officials in Detroit have declined to provide details.

So far, a majority of workers at just two UAW local units — UAW Local 900 in Wayne and workers represented by UAW Local 1250 in Brook Park, Ohio — have voted in favor of the deal.

Meanwhile, a majority of workers at six UAW locals for Ford facilities have now voted against the deal. Voting is to continue through Monday.

On Monday, 80% of workers at UAW Local 228, which represents more than 2,000 workers at Ford’s Sterling Heights axle plant, voted to reject the proposal, according to Brian Pannebecker, a worker at the plant, who favored the agreement.

“Now we are going to be putting ourselves at a labor cost disadvantage with Chrysler and GM, just like we were with Toyota and Honda five years ago, not to mention possibly losing work that could have stayed here,” Pannebecker said in an e-mail to the Free Press.

But many other workers at UAW Local 228 and other UAW units across the country oppose the contract.

Members of UAW Local 898, who work at Ford’s Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, voted to reject the contract, with 52% voting no, according to that unit’s Web site. A total of 476 votes were cast by members of that unit with 248 voting against the proposal.

Meanwhile, 73% of Ford UAW workers at Ford’s Mustang plant in Flat Rock voted no on Monday, said Gary Walkowicz, a bargaining committeeman at UAW Local 600 and leader of a group that is opposed to the proposed changes.

“What I was hearing from people before the vote is what I’m seeing in these results,” Walkowicz said.

Officials at UAW Local 3000, which represents about 2,400 workers hourly at the plant, could not be reached for comment this afternoon.

The tentative agreement, which was recommended by the UAW’s leadership earlier this month, calls for a wage freeze for entry-level workers, a commitment to binding arbitration in 2011 for disagreements over pay and benefit increases and a consolidation of skilled-trades classifications.
In return, Ford has agreed to provide additional work to a number of plants.

Twin Cities "Vote No" leaflet

Here is the leaflet being distributed at Twin Cities Assembly against the new UAW-Ford contract. I'll add text, links and more material later.