By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — After two weeks of striking, a new bargaining contract with Dauch Corporation (also known as American Axle) in Three Rivers has been officially ratified by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2093.
In a ratification vote held Sunday among all members of the local union at Dauch in Three Rivers, the membership voted 80 percent to approve the new four-year contract, which was agreed to by the bargaining committee last week. Union workers returned to work Monday morning at 6 a.m.
According to union officials, the contract would see workers at the Three Rivers plant make $30 an hour by 2030, give “legacy workers” who were at the plant before May 31, 2008 an immediate $8 per hour raise, includes no increases to healthcare premiums over the life of the deal, adds an extra nine days of vacation for everyone with at least one year of seniority, and adds Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veterans Day as new company holidays, with improved time off on Christmas.
“They took care of the long-term employees who held the line during hard concessions in 2008 to keep the facility open, the current employees, and future generations that can work with pride and dignity in their home town,” UAW Region 1-D Director Steve Dawes said in a statement on Facebook Sunday night.
The new contract brings to an end a strike that lasted two weeks, following the expiration of its previous agreement at 12:01 a.m. June 1. Union workers had been striking for several things with a new agreement, including what they called “$30 by ’30,” seeking the $30 an hour rate by the year 2030. They had also sought better health care, stronger retirement, and job security. A strike authorization vote was approved by union members on May 12.
Bargaining committee members said the new contract will be a positive for workers.
“This contract will change lives in Three Rivers and across southwest Michigan,” Josh Jager, UAW Local 2093’s bargaining chair, said in a livestream on June 10 announcing the tentative contract agreement.”I am damn proud of this agreement, and I am damn proud to be a member of UAW Local 2093.”
The agreement will also likely end some concerns about vehicle production that was impacted by the strike, as the Three Rivers plant produces axles for a number of trucks, including the Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Sierra, and GMC Canyon.
“We are pleased that UAW Local 2093 at our Three Rivers Manufacturing Facility has ratified a new, four-year collective bargaining agreement,” Chris Son, Dauch Corporation’s vice president of marketing and communications, said in a statement to the Commercial-News Sunday night.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
Any news on when the temps get called back? My husband is still waiting and has his badge and everything. Was told to see tight until he gets a call.