October 20, 2015
By Steve Wishnia and Neal Tepel
With United Auto Workers members at Chrysler voting Oct. 20-21 on a second proposed contract, some members feel that the new agreement retains the faults of the deal they solidly rejected in late September. Specifically, they say it doesn’t include cost-of-living adjustments and won’t eliminate two-tier wages and benefits fast enough.
“VOTE NO on any contract that ends with a 2-Tier or 3-Tier (MOPAR) pay system!” said a flyer handed out at the Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, where UAW Local 12 members voted against the first contract by a 7-1 margin. “The new deal hasn’t changed my opinion, and there’s a lot of negative sentiment in the plant,” Local 869 member Alex Wassell, who has worked at Chrysler's Warren Stamping Plant in the Detroit suburbs for 22 years, told Labor Notes. “A lot of people are skeptical that it takes eight years or two contract cycles to get up to top-tier wages.” Read more
