The Nation : UAW Board Votes for New GM Contract

The United Auto Workers executive board voted in favor of a new three-year General Motors Corp. contract, moving it a step closer to a ratification vote by GM’s 335,000 active UAW workers. The union did not announce the results of the vote by the 23-member executive board, made up of national union officers and the union’s regional directors. The board unanimously backed a nearly identical agreement with Ford Motor Co., which was ratified Sept. 30. UAW President Owen Bieber and Vice President Donald Ephlin are to present the GM agreement today to the bargaining council, which consists of leaders and delegates from GM’s 150 UAW local unions. Of the two agreements, the GM settlement includes stronger language encouraging local unions to accept plant-level contracts loosening work rules and job classifications. Workers would receive a 3% increase in their base wage the first year and 3% annual lump sum payments in the second and third years.