Questions remain on whether workers will approve new contract between UAW and GM

Questions remain on new contract between UAW and GM

The effort to finalize a new contract with the United Auto Workers and General Motors appears to be tougher than contract votes for two other carmakers.

ARLINGTON, Texas - The effort to finalize a new contract with the United Auto Workers and General Motors appears to be tougher than contract votes for two other carmakers.

While it's likely to be finalized, some rank-and-file members of the union aren't supporting it.

GM and the UAW need to see just 184 more yes votes to see ratification.

It’s a closely watched contract ratification vote for General Motors and the UAW.

The contract, negotiated during the union's six-week strike against the company, has looked, at times, to be in jeopardy of being voted down by the union members.

Several large factories that finished voting in the past few days turned down the four-year and eight-month deal by fairly large margins.

Mike Martinez, who writes for Automotive News and has followed the UAW negotiations and ratification plant by plant, said that some workers at GM might not be so pleased with the deal.

"It could be the GM has a lot more older workers and those traditional workers, that are already making top wages, aren't seeing as much of a pay bump as maybe some of the younger temporary workers or new hires," he explained.

Yet, according to the UAW's vote tracker, more than 60% of the union workers at the GM assembly plant in Arlington who did vote approved the deal.

Arlington GM workers approve tentative deal with UAW

The tentative contract between the United Auto Workers Union and General Motors is close to being officially approved. GM Arlington workers were the latest to vote yes. But not all union members across the nation are in favor of the deal. FOX 4's Dan Godwin explains why.

The vote tracker shows about 3,400 of the plant’s nearly 5,000 workers took part in the vote.

In most other cases, vote tallies ranged from 55% to about 60% against the contract.

The deal for all auto workers includes a $5,000 ratification bonus, contributions to the 401(k) plan, and a 25% wage increase over the life of the contract, but Martinez said some were expecting more.

"A 25% raise looks good now, but not when you were originally thinking you get 40%," he said.

Martinez explains that locals are still tallying up votes, and while it looks like Ford will ratify - with the deal now passing with 66.1% in favor – when it comes to Stellantis, the deal with GM might change things.

"Stellantis, still kind of early right now, and you wonder if big plants are voting no it might have an effect on them because those workers are saying, ‘Hey, if GM is going to send it back, maybe I'll get more too and I'll vote no,’" Martinex said.

Workers at some smaller GM facilities have yet to vote.

The local union president in Arlington has previously said full-time temporary workers like the large raises in the deal, along with the chance to get top union pay.

However, he said many longtime workers didn’t think the immediate 11% pay raises were enough to make up for financial problems during the great recession in 2008.

That's when the union agreed to accept lower pay for new hires and gave up cost of living adjustments and general annual pay raises.

GM voting is set to wrap up late Thursday.

Even with multiple locals across the country voting no on the proposed contract, it appears as of now the agreement is headed toward ratification.