Unionised General Motors workers in Lansing were reported to have voted to strike if the United Auto Workers union (UAW) fails to reach a new contract agreement with the automaker.
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According to the Associated Press (AP), Wednesday’s vote was among the first to take place at UAW-represented plants across the country as GM, Ford and Chrysler negotiate new contracts with the UAW – the old contracts expire at midnight on 14 September.
The news agency noted that the strike authorisation vote doesn’t mean a strike will happen, though, the votes typically are held during contract talks and largely are symbolic.
“It’s not that we want a strike or anything like that,” Chris ‘Tiny’ Sherwood, the president of UAW Local [branch] 652 in Lansing told the Associated Press. “It’s just to show we’re behind our negotiators, and we have that threat always there.”
Sherwood told the news agency local unions were asked by the UAW to hold strike authorisation votes by 31 August. His branch represents around 3,000 workers at a Cadillac plant and a stamping plant in Lansing and he said 97% of the members voted in favour of a strike, if needed.
The news agency noted that new contracts were agreed without strikes in 1999 and 2003 but there were strikes at individual GM plants during contract talks in 1996.
On the other hand, there hasn’t been a nationwide strike during negotiations since 1976, the Associated Press added.
