United Auto Workers union members who work at Chrysler parent Stellantis ratified a tentative contract Friday, just one day after members at General Motors approved their agreement—leaving Ford as the final automaker of the Big Three yet to approve a union deal after a six week-long strike earlier this fall.
Of the more than 26,000 Stellantis union members who voted Friday, more than 68% voted in favor of the agreement, according to a tally of the results from all the Stellantis locals shared by UAW.
The tally shared by UAW are preliminary results as a handful of plants are still voting but there are not enough employees left to vote to change the overall outcome.
Union members at Ford still need to vote on their tentative agreements.
55%. That’s approximately the percentage of GM union members who voted in favor of that agreement of the nearly 36,000 voting union members, according to a tally of the results from all the GM plants.
UAW members at Stellantis, Ford and GM went on strike for nearly 50 days earlier this fall. Workers were asking the automakers for higher wages and better benefits. It took weeks for each of the Big Three to come to an agreement as the UAW made what it described as “historic” demands of the automakers. UAW initially asked all three carmakers for a 40% wage increase, which it later lowered to 36%. All three automakers eventually agreed to similar 25% wage increases over the term of the contract agreement. The union’s deal with GM includes cost-of-living adjustments and enhanced company contributions to those with pensions and current retirees, and the deal with Ford improves retirees’ benefits and reinstates the cost-of-living allowances, according to UAW. Meanwhile, Stellantis’ deal features those same agreements and includes the right to strike over product and investment commitments, the UAW said. All three automakers’ agreements with UAW include the right to strike if any plant is closed while workers are under this contract.
Stellantis’ deal also includes an agreement to reopen a plant in Belvidere, Illinois. When the plant closed in February, it put 1,200 Stellantis employees out of work. UAW President Shawn Fain said the company will now add more than 1,000 jobs at a new battery plant in Belvidere. In addition to the new battery plant, Stellantis also agreed to keep open two facilities they had previously threatened to close—a machine operation in Toledo, Ohio, and a manufacturing facility in Trenton, Michigan—UAW President Rich Boyer said.
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