UAW members at GM's Flint plant vote against new labor deal

The majority of United Auto Workers members at General Motors' Flint, Michigan, assembly plant voted this week to turn down the union's tentative contract agreement with the automaker as local chapters across the nation weigh in on whether to sign off on the deal.

UAW Local 598, which represents the roughly 5,200 employees at the GM truck plant, reported on Facebook Thursday night that 48.2% of the plant's workers voted in favor of the labor deal, while 51.8% voted against it.

Earlier in the week, UAW Local 659, which represents workers at GM's Flint Engine facility, reported that workers in production at that plant also rejected the agreement by a narrow margin, while workers in the other four units covered by 659 voted overwhelmingly to approve it.

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UAW workers at GM, Ford and Stellantis are all set to vote over the coming weeks on whether to ratify the record agreements the union made with each of the respective automakers, after carrying out weeks-long simultaneous strikes against Detroit's Big Three.

But as the counts roll in, the rejection of the deal by GM's major Michigan assembly plant signals it is not a guarantee that a majority of the 46,000 workers covered by the agreement will approve the deal that would grant employees a 25% raise over the life of the 4.5-year contract. 

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According to WDIV-TV in Detroit, the UAW is receiving criticism not just from some GM workers over their contract, but from members at other automakers, too. 

The outlet reported that Stellantis UAW Vice President Rich Boyer acknowledged in an address to members on Tuesday that he was hearing from those unhappy with the deal the union made with the Chrysler parent company, and two common complaints are that the union was not able to secure a return to pensions or a shorter work week for autoworkers as they had aimed to do at the start of the negotiations.

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"Everybody thinks we took the first offer on the table," Boyer said. "Just to be clear with you, there were 11 offers and 11 counteroffers in total. Twenty-two passes across the table before we got to this point."

Reuters contributed to this report.