UAW Members Endorse Deals With Three Automakers

With a less-than-overwhelming endorsement of the UAW's new contract with General Motors, union members have now ratified tentative deals with the three major Detroit automakers reached during a series of strikes. The union posted counts Thursday that showed the GM deal was backed by 55% of the almost 36,000 members voting, the New York Times reports. The agreements with Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis won by greater margins, according to nearly final results; the Ford deal was ratified by about 67% of members, per NBC News. GM was the last of the three to settle.

The vote-counting will be completed by Tuesday, per the AP. The GM contract was rejected by workers who had struck in Wentzville, Missouri; Lansing Delta Township, Michigan; and Spring Hill, Tennessee. Members at GM's large SUV factory in Arlington, Texas, the other plant that had a walkout, approved the contract. Many longtime GM employees wanted larger pay increases, which newer hires will get, as well as a larger pension increase. Andrea Repasky, a body shop worker at GM's pickup truck factory in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, voted no on the contract. "I'm not ungrateful," he said, "but I feel like it could have been better." (More UAW strike stories.)