Corvette Assembly Plant and UAW to Begin Local Bargaining Negotiations

By
Mitch Talley
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7
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Corvette Assembly Plant and UAW Begin Local Bargaining Negotiations

Photo Credits: Keith Cornett


What does the future look like for the Bowling Green Corvette Assembly Plant and its more than 1,000 employees?

That depends on how negotiations underway now on a new contract end up.

National labor talks cranked up July 18 between the Big Three automakers and the United Autoworkers Union, and members of the UAW Local 2164 in Bowling Green are slated to attend a Q&A session on Aug. 12 as local bargaining begins.

With the current contract between GM and the UAW set to expire Sept. 14, Local 2164 President Bryan Ferrett tells WKU Public Radio that his members have several major goals with the new agreement, including the elimination of the current tiered wage system, winning back cost-of-living adjustments, and better working conditions.

Currently, workers are hired on a temporary basis for as long as two years, then make a slow progression to the top pay rate.

“The ideal would be to go back to how I was hired,” Ferrett said. “You get hired, you put in a 90-day probation period, you’re hired in at 65-70% of the rate, and within a year or year-and-a-half, you progress to the top rate (currently more than $30 per hour) and full benefits.”

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UAW members last negotiated a contract in 2019, and rampant inflation since has outpaced the raises they received then, making cost-of-living adjustments during the new contract period more important than ever.

As for the better working conditions at the plant, Ferrett admits they’re not bad now, “but we’re always looking to achieve better safety practices and conditions at the plant. It’s just an old building. I’d like to see it upgraded or a new facility be built here in Bowling Green.”

The plant underwent hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of improvements in preparation for the launch of the current C8 Corvette, including about half a billion dollars for a new paint facility in 2017.

The plant will begin production of the new E-Ray hybrid electric Corvette before the end of the year, and its future role in GM’s push toward an all-electric future by 2035 will also likely be a topic of conversation during the current negotiations.

According to an Oxford Economics report released this summer, GM’s economic impact in Kentucky is huge, with $1.7 billion in GDP contributions, $326 million in tax receipts, and 13,000+ jobs through the Bowling Green plant and its suppliers.


Source:
wkyufm.org

Related:
Corvette Assembly Plant Avoids Major Shutdown with New Labor Agreement for Temporary Employees
To Avoid a Strike, the UAW at the Corvette Assembly Plant has Four Demands for Management
UAW Local 2164 is Celebrating 40 Years in Bowling Green

 



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7 COMMENTS

  1. And history has shown, after pushing aside the smoke and mirrors, any settlements favoring the unions, that the costs are ultimately passed on to consumers in some form/fashion. This on top of already horrendous inflation costs. Only the wealthy survive.

  2. Be Careful Unions. You just put the oldest trucking company out of business!!! You workers better be careful or you won’t have a job!!!

  4. It’s just like Charles said. Look at what happened to Yellow. All 30,000 of its employees are all of a sudden out of a job.

  6. More coffee breaks and 6 weeks vacation. They should be more concerned about AI and robots that don’t strike.

  7. Overpaid and they can’t produce didn’t they go on strike at least twice already on the C8 this is why I didn’t get my Z06 well I’ve been a life long Chevy man and I’m getting ready to pull my C8 off and spend it on something else but it won’t be a Chevy oh did I mention the huge markups on the 2024 model years corvettes

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