UAW workers at GM Flint plant narrowly vote against new labor agreement

Nov 10 (Reuters) – Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union at General Motors’ (GM.N) Flint assembly plant in Michigan narrowly voted against a proposed contract with the automaker American automobile, the local announced.

The vote indicates that approval of the deal, which is expected to significantly increase costs for GM, is not guaranteed.

In a Facebook post Thursday, UAW Local 598 said 51.8 percent of votes cast were against the proposed deal.

GM said it would not comment during the ratification process.

Shares of the company, which employs 4,746 workers at the Flint plant, fell about 1.2% in morning trading to a more than three-year low of $26.30.

Workers at the company’s other plants are expected to vote on the deal in the coming weeks.

Of all the votes cast so far at the company’s various facilities, about 58 percent of workers voted in favor of the deal, according to a UAW vote tracker.

Workers have yet to vote at some of GM’s major plants, including the Arlington assembly plant in Texas and the Fort Wayne truck plant in Indiana, which produce some of the most profitable vehicles of the company.

Union workers are voting on contracts for Stellantis, owner of Chrysler (STLAM.MI), General Motors and Ford Motor (FN), after the first coordinated strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers.

The vote at the Flint assembly plant, which makes the Silverado heavy-duty pickup truck, comes after the three Detroit automakers and the UAW reached tentative agreements in recent weeks to end a costly strike following marathon negotiations.

The new UAW agreement, which covers 46,000 total workers at GM, provides a 25% increase in base pay through April 2028 and will cumulatively increase top pay by 33%, compounded by estimated adjustments the cost of living at more than $42 an hour.

“The chances of GM putting more than an extra 15 cents on the table are low,” said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.

The historic deal with the Detroit Three has prompted rival automakers with non-unionized workforces to offer raises.

Japan’s Honda Motor Group (7267.T) announced Friday that it is implementing an 11% pay increase for production workers at its U.S. facilities starting in January.

Separately, the UAW said Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks (VOLVb.ST) informed the union that the Oct. 1 offer to striking workers was its “last, best and last.”

The vote on the offer was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, the union said.

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