UAW members ratify contract with steering parts supplier Nexteer

DETROIT -- UAW-represented workers approved a new labor contract with Nexteer Automotive Corp. nearly two weeks after overwhelmingly rejecting a previous deal and engaging in a one-day strike.UAW Local 699, which represents workers at Nexteer’s Saginaw, Mich., plant, said in a Facebook post early Saturday that 61.4 percent of workers voted in favor of the deal, compared with 38.6 percent who voted "no."The vote comes after 97 percent of workers turned down a previous deal on Dec. 6, which subsequently led to a one-day strike that threatened to shut down some North American production at General Motors and other automakers. The Saginaw plant makes a variety of steering wheels and related components. The deal expires on March 20, 2020, and features higher wages for most workers than the previous deal. It also scraps a controversial health care provision in the old deal that would have had workers contributing to PPO plans, among other changes.Production workers will be paid between $15.88 and $18.69 per hour by the end of the five-year deal. The range in the rejected agreement was between $15.85 and $17.25. Wages will rise between $1 and $2 per hour upon ratification.The contract scraps a previous provision that would have required workers on PPO health care plans to pay as much as $350 per month in contributions. The new contract calls for employees to contribute nothing toward either the PPO or HMO plans.Other differences include a $2,000 signing bonus, up from $1,500, employees being able to defer holidays into the next calendar year and changes in vacation or relief time from the previous contract.Voting took place over two days following two days of informational meetings, a stark contrast to the one-day voting period and rollout for the first contract.Nexteer is ranked No. 68 on Automotive News’ list of the top 100 global suppliers with $2.9 billion in sales to automakers in 2014. GM originally owned the business, which later became part of the Delphi Corp. spinoff in 1999. GM reacquired the business during the Great Recession in 2009 to allow Delphi to emerge from four years of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.The company now is owned by Chinese investors Pacific Century Motors, which gained control of the company in 2010 after GM sold it for $440 million.Nexteer employs 12,000 workers worldwide and provides steering and driveline systems to automakers including GM, Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. The company plans to move its corporate headquarters this summer from Saginaw to Auburn Hills, Mich., north of Detroit.

UAW members ratify contract with steering parts supplier Nexteer

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