GM and UAW OK Tentative Saturn Accord : Union’s Executive Board to Vote on Pact Today

General Motors and the United Auto Workers have reached a tentative agreement on a novel labor contract for future workers at GM’s proposed Saturn plant, union officials confirmed Thursday. The union’s executive board is expected to vote on the pact today at a meeting in Chicago.

There were no details available on how the final agreement differs from a draft version that was released by a union dissident to the press earlier this month.

That draft indicated that the union was prepared to make dramatic changes in its relationship with management in return for job security and greater worker involvement in decision making. It also called for wages that would be higher than those paid by GM elsewhere but with 20% of the compensation tied to incentives based on productivity and profitability.

Once the labor contract receives final approval, GM will finally announce where it will build its Saturn assembly complex. However, a GM spokesman said Thursday that such an announcement won’t be made today or over the weekend. But it could come early next week.

On Thursday, Detroit newspapers, quoting unnamed sources, reported that the plant, with its 6,000 jobs, will be located in Spring Hill, Tenn., a small town about 30 miles south of Nashville. Both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press also said that GM is still considering a location in Schoolcraft Township, Mich., about 20 miles south of Kalamazoo, as a backup in case its plans for a Tennessee site fall through.