Janesville approves contract

[HoosierRon]

Workers in Janesville approve contract

Union employees at General Motors Corp.'s Janesville, Wis., assembly plant have voted in favor of a tentative four-year contract that appears headed for ratification despite misgivings among some of GM's 73,000 members of the United Auto Workers union.

UAW Local 95 in Janesville said 62 percent of those who voted Wednesday approved the contract. The Janesville plant, which employs about 2,700 UAW members, builds large sport-utility vehicles, and the contract makes a commitment to keep producing such vehicles after 2012, when the current models are scheduled to stop production.

Of note:

Several of GM's 70 UAW locals had approved the contract by Thursday, with one rejecting it, Local 465 at a Massena, N.Y., engine plant slated to close in 2008.

[cemaxc]

Sweet. Another plant that approved the new contract. Although, I thought they were going to close the Janesville plant. GM already has the Arlington, Tx plant that makes the same vehicles and the plant in Mexico that could make the rest of the GMT-900s so why do they need Janesville.

Oh, and for any of you that work at Janesville... You make well built vehicles, my mom's Suburban has over 220,000 miles and still kicks. But, I'm from Texas so I have to stick up for the jobs here.

[69Firebird400]

What are the rules surrounding ratification of the contract? Is it just a majority of employees, or a majority of plants?

No surprise that a plant slated to close next year would not vote in favor of the agreement. I've also heard that Janesville's local has some militant/less agreeable tendencies, so a relatively slim approval vote of 62% isn't a huge surprise.

[NfamousZ24]

Originally Posted by 69Firebird400

What are the rules surrounding ratification of the contract? Is it just a majority of employees, or a majority of plants?

No surprise that a plant slated to close next year would not vote in favor of the agreement. I've also heard that Janesville's local has some militant/less agreeable tendencies, so a relatively slim approval vote of 62% isn't a huge surprise.

National agreement is done with the vote by everyone.

It isn't by how many plants passed it. This isn't a presidental election lolz

[GMCSonoma]

What the Janesville Press Gazette says...

[GM-Joe]

Originally Posted by cemaxc

Sweet. Another plant that approved the new contract. Although, I thought they were going to close the Janesville plant. GM already has the Arlington, Tx plant that makes the same vehicles and the plant in Mexico that could make the rest of the GMT-900s so why do they need Janesville.

Oh, and for any of you that work at Janesville... You make well built vehicles, my mom's Suburban has over 220,000 miles and still kicks. But, I'm from Texas so I have to stick up for the jobs here.

They also have one in Indiana and one in Michigan, as well as Ontario; but Janesville was on the chopping blog because geographically it is not near anything, so there are infrastructure problems and secondly that plant is older than anyone who works there.

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by 69Firebird400

What are the rules surrounding ratification of the contract? Is it just a majority of employees, or a majority of plants?

No surprise that a plant slated to close next year would not vote in favor of the agreement. I've also heard that Janesville's local has some militant/less agreeable tendencies, so a relatively slim approval vote of 62% isn't a huge surprise.

Janesville's workforce really gets hit hard...

1. union
2. upper Midwestern & from Wisconsin (although some are also from Illinois)

Also, there have been reports that every tuesday if the Packers play Monday night the whole 1st shift calls in sick & alike...not true

I've toured Janesville twice as a GM dealer parts manager, and the plant is very well kept, unlike Chrysler with Kenosha's equally aged plant when I've toured that one...and my parts manager group found the workers @ Janesville all very-very warm & cordial to us...

My dealer also has about 3 dozen Janesville employees as customers...who are VERY good ones!!!! So I'm biased...

[ronald mcretard]

Originally Posted by NfamousZ24

National agreement is done with the vote by everyone.

It isn't by how many plants passed it. This isn't a presidental election lolz

haha yeah imagine that, a popular vote! what are they thinking? don't they know that some people count more than others?

[tonystewart]

Wentzville turned it down.

[stevecmh]

Originally Posted by cemaxc

Sweet. Another plant that approved the new contract. Although, I thought they were going to close the Janesville plant. GM already has the Arlington, Tx plant that makes the same vehicles and the plant in Mexico that could make the rest of the GMT-900s so why do they need Janesville.

Oh, and for any of you that work at Janesville... You make well built vehicles, my mom's Suburban has over 220,000 miles and still kicks. But, I'm from Texas so I have to stick up for the jobs here.

Last time it was not on the chopping block.. that was just a rumor... But it was not true..


I hope they keep it.. being it is just south of me

[ScottyFLM]

i hope they don't shut it down, it's just north from where I was from.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by NfamousZ24

National agreement is done with the vote by everyone.

It isn't by how many plants passed it. This isn't a presidental election lolz

Thanks - I didn't know, so that's why I asked the question.

They way they're reporting plant-by-plant ratification votes, it wasn't clear.

Originally Posted by GMCSonoma

Janesville's workforce really gets hit hard...

1. union
2. upper Midwestern & from Wisconsin (although some are also from Illinois)

Also, there have been reports that every tuesday if the Packers play Monday night the whole 1st shift calls in sick & alike...not true

I've toured Janesville twice as a GM dealer parts manager, and the plant is very well kept, unlike Chrysler with Kenosha's equally aged plant when I've toured that one...and my parts manager group found the workers @ Janesville all very-very warm & cordial to us...

My dealer also has about 3 dozen Janesville employees as customers...who are VERY good ones!!!! So I'm biased...

I have no problem with the folks at Janesville. They built my parents' 1997 Suburban, which was a great vehicle for them (though they only kept it for a year or two). That plant probably built some of their other new Suburbans and Tahoes through the years as well.

I'm just saying that I heard they were less corporation-friendly than some other locals. I do not know that from personal experience.

[Smoke]

[quote\]My dealer also has about 3 dozen Janesville employees as customers...who are VERY good ones!!!! So I'm biased...[/quote]

Who's your dealer??

[Gm786]

Another plant approves the tentative contract between GM and the UAW. Well, this is good news. I'm sure the contract will get ratification by the majority of GM's assembly plants if not all of them.

[GMCSonoma]

Originally Posted by Smoke

Who's your dealer??

That's classified!!!