UPDATE | Last hope for GM Lordstown extinguished with ratification

LORDSTOWN — The longest General Motors strike since 1970 has ended, and about 48,000 United Auto Workers members are going back to work — but not in Lordstown.

UAW members across the country on Friday ratified a new, four-year contract — one that doesn't include a new product for the now-shuttered Lordstown Assembly Complex.

"It's like the final nail in the coffin," said UAW Local 1112 President Tim O'Hara.

The seemingly divisive nationwide vote came with a 14-percent margin, with 23,389 production, skilled trades and salary workers voting in favor (57 percent), and 16,673 against (43 percent), according to a UAW memo.

"It's much closer than normal. I remember contracts that passed by 75 percent," O'Hara said.

Though Local 1112 voters opposed ratification 412 to 61 on Thursday — and shops in Bowling Green Ky. and Spring Hill, Tenn. now bolstered by Lordstown ex-pats followed with their own rejections — several key Friday votes at larger facilities sealed the pact.

Votes to ratify narrowly passed by less than 60 votes at UAW shops in Fort Wayne, Ind. — now home to some former 1112 members, O'Hara said — and Kansas City, while a union hall in Lansing Delta Township, Mich., voted "no" by a slightly wider split, according to AutoNews.com. About 3,400 workers of the UAW Local 276 in Arlington, Tx., however, voted overwhelmingly to pass.

"General Motors members have spoken," said Terry Dittes, UAW vice president. "We are all so incredibly proud of UAW-GM members who captured the hearts and minds of a nation. Their sacrifice and courageous stand addressed the two-tier wages structure and permanent temporary worker classification that has plagued working class Americans."

The new contract gives temporary workers a three-year track to full-time status; a 3-percent pay raise in the contract's second and fourth year, as well as lump-sum, 4-percent payments for the other two years; halves the growth period to the top of the pay scale from eight to four years; and removes a previous $12,000 cap on profit sharing.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said the 40-day strike has "shown the country what the dignity of work is all about."

"Today's ratification is a testament to the value of the labor movement. Without the UAW, GM could have increased workers' health care costs, kept their wages flat and continued to use temporary workers indefinitely," he said.

"At the same time, this is another in a long line of sad days for the people in Lordstown. GM's unilateral decision this year to close Lordstown and their continued refusal to bring a new product to the plant is a betrayal of the Mahoning Valley. Lordstown auto workers are the best at what they do, and I will continue to stand with them, their families, and the entire community as we fight to bring good, UAW auto jobs to the Valley."

A GM statement released Friday suggests the company plans to invest $7.7 billion domestically, including "opportunities for future investments and job growth in [the] Mahoning Valley" which, the statement specified, are not part of the national agreement.

Also specified are "an opportunity to bring battery cell production to the area, which would create 1,000 manufacturing jobs." It's still unclear if that project would take advantage of the 53-year-old Lordstown complex.

The statement also reiterates the sale of the Lordstown complex to Lordstown Motors Corp., which intends to manufacture electric pickups for commercial fleet customers and could create an initial 400 jobs.

Steve Burns, Lordstown Motors Corp. CEO, said last month his company intends to utilize union labor, but he had not yet initiated discussions with UAW International.

O'Hara said he remains skeptical of GM investments that appear to be packaged with the UAW contract, but which could have been planned for years.

"At this point, I don't trust GM about anything," he said. "Until I actually see these things up and functioning."

He said he hopes the local hall can stick around until new local work is landed.

"As far as the local [1112], we're OK financially for the time being," O'Hara said. "With no members, we have no income. We'll have to sit down with our executive board locally."

He added Friday was a "sobering" day for the Valley — and it should be for other GM-union shops across the country, as well.

"I don't wish what happened to us to anybody else … but I think everybody could potentially have a target on their back."

This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 6:01 PM with the headline "UPDATE | Last hope for GM Lordstown extinguished with ratification."