Chrysler Design Staff Votes 13-3 to Join UAW

Design workers at Chrysler Corp.’s Pacifica automotive design center on Thursday voted 13 to 3 in favor of joining the United Automobile Workers.

Unless Chrysler contests the vote tally, the results will be forwarded to the National Labor Relations Board for certification, according to a UAW Region 6 spokesman in Los Angeles.

“If there are no objections (by Chrysler), we could hear back from the NLRB in about 15 days,” said UAW spokesman Marty Martinez, who added that once the vote tally is certified, “we’d make a request to sit down and bargain (with Chrysler) for an agreement.”

“The NLRB conducted the election and UAW representation was approved,” a Chrysler spokesman said Tuesday in Los Angeles. “It was a legitimate election. The employees wanted UAW representation and they won, so we’ll honor their wishes to be represented by UAW.”

Martinez said Chrysler’s Carlsbad design workers, who build models of automobiles, probably would be affiliated with a UAW department that represents technical, office and professional employees across the country.

Although Chrysler’s Detroit-based modelers are covered by a UAW contract, Martinez said the UAW has not represented any employees at the Pacifica operation, which opened in 1983.

Martinez said any contract negotiated with Chrysler would mirror the wage and benefits package that covers modelers in Detroit.