CHICAGO — More than a year after a seven-week strike by service technicians at Chicago-area auto dealerships was settled, the techs' union contends that the same issues that led to the walkout remain largely unresolved. The disputes are likely to cause acrimonious negotiations again when the contract expires in 2021, union leaders say.
Among key issues cited by the union are low starting pay, slow advancement from entry-level jobs, reduced pay for warranty repairs and the flat-rate pay system that keeps techs on the clock to try to book more hours.
Those issues aren't unique to Chicago dealerships, says the union, Local 701 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Pay practices and working conditions make it harder for dealers everywhere to attract and retain young technicians, the union contends, and the industry faces a growing shortage of trained techs.
Dealers, though, argue that young techs who have skills and make an effort to learn can advance quickly and make $80,000 or more a year. The flat-rate system, they maintain, is a proven incentive that generates more revenue for dealerships and rewards talented techs with higher pay.
In contract talks last year, Local 701, which represents techs at nearly half of the roughly 400 new-vehicle dealerships in the Chicago area, tried to get a 40-hour weekly pay guarantee. The union settled for 35, one hour more than the previous contract provided. That guarantee will increase to 36 hours in the final year of the four-year agreement.
Tom Shirey, dealer principal of Shirey Cadillac in Oak Lawn, Ill., says a 40-hour guarantee "was not sustainable from a business standpoint." Shirey heads the New Car Dealer Committee, which represented Chicago dealers in last year's talks.
Shirey notes that dealerships with union shops are still obligated to pay technicians their guaranteed minimum pay even if no customers show up on a given day because of, say, a snowstorm.
Pay less
Union-represented service technicians in the Chicago area earn less than their unionized counterparts in other trades — a deterrent to tech hiring and retention, union officials say.
Service tech
Carpenter
Electrician
Plumber
Hourly starting pay, apprentice
$15.50
$18.94
$19.34
$17.10
Length of apprenticeship
5 years
4 years
5 years
5 years
Base hourly pay, journeyman
$35.30
$47.35
$48.35
$50.25
Source: Unions
Warranty woes
