GM-UAW contract on verge of being ratified

In a closely watched ratification vote, General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers need to see just 121 more yes votes to declare their tentative deal approved by voting members at plants operated by the automaker, according to a Detroit News analysis.

Even with multiple locals across the country voting no on the proposed contract, it appeared Wednesday afternoon the agreement was heading toward ratification after significant wins at a Texas SUV plant and an Ohio battery plant.

The contract is winning with 53% of members voting yes, according to a News analysis of the known totals Wednesday evening. Based on the employment levels at the four facilities yet to have results — Brownstown Battery plant, Customer Care and Aftersales facilities in Lansing and Denver, and a components plant in Lockport, New York — the pact needs 121 more yes votes to pass.

Workers at GM's Arlington, Texas, plant approved the contract with 60% of production workers voting yes and 65% of skilled trades workers voting yes, according to results posted on Local 276's website. Of more than 3,300 members who voted, 2,051 — or nearly 61% total — voted to approve the contract. Arlington Assembly has more than 5,000 workers building full-size trucks.

In northeast Ohio, members of Local 1112 at the GM and LG Energy Solution Ultium Cells LLC battery plant also overwhelmingly approved the contract with 96% voting yes, according to results obtained by The Detroit News.

Meanwhile, workers at three large assembly plants voted against the deal with the automaker, according to results released by the union locals and obtained by The News.

More than 60% of workers at GM's Fort Wayne, Indiana, truck plant voted no, according to results from Local 2209. In Wentzville, Missouri, at the automaker's midsize truck plant, the deal failed with 53.5% voting no, according to results from Local 2250. And at the Lansing Grand River plant — home of the Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans — the deal failed with 57.7% voting no, according to results from Local 652.

More:GM workers at multiple plants are rejecting a new 'record' deal. Here's why

Workers at plants across multiple states also turned the deal down on Tuesday. UAW members at GM's assembly plants in Bowling Green, Kentucky; Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Lansing/Delta Township voted against the proposed deal. So did workers at the automaker's Toledo Propulsion Systems plant and Tonawanda, New York, engine plant.

If the UAW-GM contract was turned down, union leaders would face key decisions to move forward while trying to maintain the momentum the UAW has gained during a strong time for the labor movement in the United States. A failed contract could hinder some of the UAW's next steps in maintaining and building its momentum, including organizing U.S. plants operated by foreign-owned automakers.

"The UAW will face serious questions if members at one of the companies vote down the agreement," said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University. "Specifically, the union will need to decide whether to send the workers out on strike, perhaps on a company-wide basis. Second, if the union goes back to the table to renegotiate with one company, how does it maintain the pattern across the three? Last, how does it convince the workers who rejected the contract that it has made the maximum effort to get the most that can be obtained from the company? "

Masters added that a rejection of the GM contract would cause UAW President Shawn Fain to "put the brakes" on the union's foreign auto plants organizing efforts.

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