GM, United Auto Workers at odds again, sparring over temporary employees at Indiana plant
The strike between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union might be over, but a new battle is waging.
Late Friday night, GM began letting go temporary workers at its Fort Wayne Assembly plant in Roanoke, Indiana, said GM and UAW sources. GM builds its hot-selling light-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups there.
The local union said Sunday the number terminated is actually 228, but GM labor officials stand firm on 240, saying the local union disputes some numbers and the dialogue will continue during local negotiations.
The terminations followed a failed push by the local UAW 2209 leaders to get GM to convert some of those temporary workers to permanent full-time status. GM said it was willing to keep them on as part-time temps, but the temps are not eligible to be converted yet per terms of the new national UAW contract.
When negotiations broke down with the local union, GM opted to terminate the temp workers.
"We had some conditions where they had to hire some of these people, but they refused to hire them," said Rich LeTourneau, chairman of Local 2209. "We have 178 people retiring by March 1 and GM has no plan to fill those jobs. They rejected our offer to fill them with conversions of temps."
In a letter to membership, LeTourneau said GM told him if "we can't come to a temp agreement, they will be forced to hire transfers on layoff from" GM's plant on the border of Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan.
While LeTourneau said he welcomes transfers, they will cost GM considerably more in wages, benefits and possible moving costs than converting temps to permanent status will cost GM.
GM said it converted nearly 150 temps to full-time regular status last Monday. In other words, it hired them permanently.
GM offered to convert 52 more to permanent full-time even though they did not yet meet the terms of GM's obligation under the UAW contract as a "goodwill gesture," but the local union wanted more temps made permanent immediately, two people familiar with the situation said.
Those 52 are still employed as full-time temps.
"We believe these temps that have kicked ass for this plant over multiple years deserve to be hired, obviously the company doesn't," LeTourneau said in a letter to members Saturday. "It's obviously not about money now, or it would be a no brainer. It's all about their egos now, and it's not what's right for the business or the membership."
No deal
GM is ramping up pickup production at the plant after a six-week work stoppage late last fall.
On Sept. 16, some 48,000 UAW workers went on strike at all of GM's facilities in 10 states. The plight of temporary workers was a top issue driving the strike. The UAW ratified a new four-year contract Oct. 26.
In that deal, GM is required to convert temps to full-time regular employees when the temp has three years of continuous service.
Last Monday, at 30 of its 52 UAW-represented facilities in the United States, GM made about 930 temporary workers with three years of continuous service permanent full-time employees. At Fort Wayne Assembly, that included 148 temps. There are more conversions to come in the months ahead, GM said.
"We are excited to welcome these team members as full-time team members at our Fort Wayne Assembly Plant," said GM spokesman David Barnas in an email to the Paste BN Network's Detroit Free Press.
He said GM expects to add more temporaries there as full-time members in the future. Additionally, GM was willing to retain the now-terminated temporary workers as part-time temporary employees, he said, "but unfortunately we could not reach an agreement with the UAW. We appreciate the hard work of our employees and their contributions to GM. We certainly wish them well in their future endeavors.”
The temporary workers leaving the plant have worked there from eight months to two years, LeTourneau told the Free Press. Their temporary letter expires Monday and most have left over the weekend, he said.
In a statement emailed to the Free Press, UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said, "GM has been unable to reach an agreement on allocation. However, any decision to proceed with layoffs," he said, has been generated "by General Motors."
Follow Detroit Free Press reporter Jamie L. LaReau on Twitter @jlareauan.