Voting on a new contract for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles workers could start as soon as Friday.
The time frame is not guaranteed but would be set if the UAW-FCA National Council formally adopts the proposal — reached Saturday between the auto company and the union following months of talks — as a tentative agreement, sending it to the membership for a vote.
The council, which is composed of local union leaders, is to meet Wednesday at the Renaissance Center in Detroit.
FCA workers are the last among the Detroit Three to decide on a new four-year contract, capping a bargaining season that saw the longest auto strike in a half-century. After General Motors UAW workers ended their 40-day strike with an affirmative ratification vote Oct. 25, Ford workers followed suit in a much less contentious fashion Nov. 15.
The UAW national councils for both GM and Ford gave their blessings at their meetings despite, during the GM meeting, protests by workers associated with GM’s former Lordstown Assembly plant. Lordstown ended production earlier this year, but the plant has been sold for an undisclosed amount to an electric vehicle company backed by Workhorse Group.
“I think they wanted to do this as effectively and quickly as possible,” Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in labor issues, said of the timing of the FCA/UAW proposal. “They weren’t quite as rapid as Ford, but there were a lot of complex issues at Fiat Chrysler, and I think when they had the deal, they announced it. A pattern is in place and this year the pattern worked particularly well for UAW workers. GM was clearly the toughest company to tackle, it took 40 days on the picket line. But Ford and Chrysler, each with their own specific issues, have adopted the pattern to conform to their needs.”
Details of the FCA deal have not been released, but it is expected to follow the pattern set with the GM contract. Workers at FCA, like those at Ford, are expected to get $9,000 ratification bonuses. GM worker bonuses were $11,000.
The company estimates the deal would cover 47,200 workers.
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No new assembly plant closures are expected out of the deal, meaning Belvidere Assembly in Illinois, which has seen a shift reduction this year for the plant that produces the Jeep Cherokee, would survive. But questions remain about the fate of a couple of other facilities, such as Mount Elliott Tool and Die on Outer Drive in Detroit, where die making has already ended, and the ZF axle plant in Marysville.
In its news release on the proposed tentative agreement, the UAW referenced $9 billion in investments and 7,900 jobs during the contract period, which includes FCA’s previously announced $4.5 billion investment in southeast Michigan and 6,500 jobs in Detroit and Macomb County. The company is remaking the former Mack Engine Complex to produce Jeep SUVs.
Whether the deal gets the blessing of workers, however, is unknown. FCA workers rejected the initial proposal during 2015 talks and the ongoing corruption scandal, which led to the resignation of Gary Jones as UAW president, has shaken the faith of many rank-and-file workers. The union has announced a slate of ethics and financial reforms designed to restore trust. While it’s not clear whether members will be satisfied with the changes, it’s also unclear whether these issues would have a significant impact on voting results.
FCA is also facing a lawsuit from GM, which claims the automaker tried to corrupt labor talks over the last decade. FCA has called the federal suit meritless.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com or (313) 223-4272. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Staff writer Jamie L. LaReau contributed to this report.
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