General Motors hourly workers Mike Yakim and Sean Crawford are lucky.þþThey each work at a GM factory pretty much guaranteed to keep building vehicles over the next four years. That's considered by union members to be job security.þþStill, both men said they now think that the six-week strike against GM was not worth it in the end.þþÿI lost six weeks of pay and it didn’t accomplish its goal, product allocation being a goal,ÿ said Yakim. He works at GM's Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, where he transferred after GM shuttered Lordstown Assembly in Ohio. He had hoped, during bargaining, the union would win new product to restart Lordstown.þþÿThe allocation of products was tremendously important and we didn’t get it,ÿ said Yakim, who lives in an apartment near Lansing. His family still lives in Lordstown. ÿThat was the 'no' vote right there. We don’t have any guarantees.ÿþþIn the contract, GM promised a $7.7 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing and to create or retain about 9,000 jobs over four years. The UAW GM department skimped on specifics in its initial highlights, but its more detailed ÿwhite bookÿ listed investments in Lansing Delta, Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee, Wentzville Assembly in Missouri, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly and the Warren Tech Center.þþStill, that's five out GM's 33 U.S. production facilities, whereas the UAW's tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co. provides detailed investment into all its U.S. facilities.þþUAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said the strike achieved gains for the union membership. ÿThere will be substantial investments based on commitments outlined in the GM contract over the next four years,ÿ he said. þþMore job securityþþThe GM strike was effective, said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in labor.þþÿIt is easy to second guess it after the fact,ÿ said Shaiken. ÿBut I think GM gave more in some critical areas that wouldn’t have been possible absent the strike.ÿþþBut second-guessing is what some UAW members are doing in light of seeing the detailed Ford investments released Friday in that tentative agreement. It outlines exactly where Ford would invest $6 billion in U.S. manufacturing over the next four years and create or retain 8,500 jobs.þþÿI don’t think we got what we needed to get,ÿ said Crawford, who works at Flint Assembly. There, GM builds its top-selling Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, so Crawford isn't worried that GM will idle his factory. But he and Yakim think workers should have remained on strike longer to get a deal with promised and detailed job security.þþ“The details were scant to say the least at General Motors and the lack of equality in pay and lack of job security were the two biggest reasons I voted 'no' on the contract,ÿ said Crawford.þþUnion members at Ford have until Nov. 15 to vote on ratification for the proposal.
Source: Detroit Free Press
