United Auto Workers officials Thursday night briefed members about terms of a tentative 4.5-year labor agreement, including details about plans to reopen an Illinois plant.
The briefing was conducted ahead of a ratification vote.
“These are enormous gains,” union vice president Rich Boyer said on a livestream. Concerning the company’s Belvidere, Illinois, operation, Boyer said: “We had a duty to save Belvidere.”
Stellantis idled the factory earlier this year and laid off 1,200 people. It had produced the Jeep Cherokee SUV.
According to the union, Stellantis agreed to produce a midsize truck on two shifts at Belvidere. That would take up the slack of the 1,200 layoffs, the UAW said. The company also agreed to put an electric vehicle battery operation at Belvidere. The UAW said about $1.3 billion will be invested in battery production and about 1,300 jobs would be created.
The battery operation will be a joint venture, union president Shawn Fain said on the livestream. However, those who work in battery production will be “Stellantis employees and leased to the joint venture,” Fain said.
As a result, battery workers will be covered by UAW’s contract with Stellantis, the union chief said.
“We have to make sure green jobs and good jobs,” Fain said.
The union wants to ensure its members will be retained as the industry shifts to EVs. There are uncertainties because EVs can be simpler to assemble and have fewer parts than vehicles powered by conventional internal combustion engines.
“Wherever the industry is going, the UAW is going with it,” Fain said.
Financial terms of the Stellantis accord are similar to an agreement being voted on by UAW members at Ford Motor Co.
Those terms include pay raises of 25% during the agreement, including an immediate 11% boost upon ratification. Cost-of-living adjustments have also been restored. The pact reduces the time to reach top pay rates to three years.
The union has made details available to members on its website.
Since 1999, the UAW has negotiated four-year contracts with Stellantis (which includes the former Chrysler Corp.), Ford and General Motors Co. During this year’s negotiations, the union wanted longer contracts so it can organize U.S. factories owned by foreign automakers. Those automakers have resisted UAW organizing efforts.
The UAW reached a tentative agreement with GM on Monday.
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