|
 The agreement must be ratified by a vote of Fiat Chrysler's 40,000
union workers in the United States. A previous proposed contract was
rejected by rank and file UAW workers at Fiat Chrysler in voting
late last month.
Carl Durham, 45, a UAW worker at Fiat Chrysler's transmission plant
in Kokomo, Ind., said his support for the new contract would depend
on whether it did more than the previous deal to narrow or eliminate
the roughly $9-an-hour gap in pay between veteran workers and more
recent hires. He said he voted against the previous agreement.
"I want to know all the details and what everyone is going to get,
not a lot of ifs," he said.
Neither the union nor the company disclosed details of the new
tentative pact. It's not clear whether Fiat Chrysler will spend more
than it would have under the proposal it offered the UAW last month.
Workers have said they turned down the previous contract because
many wanted a two-tier wage and benefit system eliminated. Short of
that, they sought a cap on that lower-paid second tier at 25 percent
of the total union workforce. Many workers also wish to undo some of
the concessions they have given since 2007 to keep the company
competitive.
If this agreement is ratified, the UAW will try to use the pact as a
template for negotiations with the U.S. operations of General Motors
Co <GM.N> and Ford Motor Co<F.N>.
The UAW Chrysler Council will meet in Detroit at 11 am EDT on Friday
to discuss the agreement and vote on it, the union said.
The previous proposed agreement would have narrowed the gap between
the pay of veteran UAW workers, who earn about $28 an hour, and more
recent hires, who are paid about $19 an hour. This two-tier wage
system, which the UAW agreed to in stages over the past decade as
the Detroit automakers grappled with grave financial losses, has
become a focus of discontent among many UAW members who want all
workers to be paid the top tier wage.
Aaron McCune, 21, a recent hire at the Kokomo complex who makes
$15.78 an hour, said he was concerned the previous proposed contract
was unclear, especially about health insurance. "But I have a family
to feed and I can't get by without a job. I would have gone on
strike, but I'm happy I get to keep on working," he said early
Thursday.
[to top of second column] |
The previous agreement was opposed by 65 percent of Fiat Chrysler's
UAW workers, even though the company promised $5.3 billion in
investment in UAW-represented plants during the four-year life of
the contract. UAW workers said the investment promises were not
specific, and also questioned proposed changes to their healthcare
plans.
The UAW's decision, for the second time, to try to avoid a strike at
Fiat Chrysler highlights the continued threat to UAW jobs, despite
the robust recovery of the U.S. automakers since the financial
crisis of 2008-2009. The sudden collapse in U.S. auto sales during
that period forced the former Chrysler and GM into government-funded
bankruptcies, while Ford undertook a painful, self-financed
restructuring.
Now, the Detroit automakers are making strong profits, though Fiat
Chrysler's U.S. operations are the weakest financially of the
Detroit Three. Further, the UAW remains under pressure from the
threat that the automakers could move more jobs to lower cost Mexico
or overseas. Fiat Chrysler and Ford have both signaled plans to
shift production of certain models to Mexico, UAW members have said.
U.S. labor unions have launched fewer than 20 major strikes in each
year from 2008 to 2014, according to the U.S. Labor Department. In
1979, U.S. unions launched 235 major strikes. The number of strikes
started to fall dramatically after 1981, when then-President Ronald
Reagan fired U.S. air traffic controllers who had gone on strike.
During the subsequent years, U.S. companies moved to relocate jobs
overseas or to states with weak unions.
(Additional reporting by Agnieszka Flak in Milan; Editing by Ken
Wills)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
