UAW Approves McDonnell Pact by 4-1 Margin : Aerospace: The acceptance came after the union rejected a similar contract agreement with McDonnell Douglas in April.
Members of the United Auto Workers union at the McDonnell Douglas aerospace plant in Long Beach have given landslide approval to a new contract nearly identical to one they rejected six months ago.
The vote on Tuesday was 7,611 to 1,758--a margin of more than 4 to 1. It followed months of hostility and hard feelings within UAW Local 148 about how to handle the contract talks. Local 148 has more than 19,000 members, making it the largest among the UAW’s 1,200 locals.
The lopsided victory “was a real surprise,” said Don Howser, an official at the union’s Western regional headquarters in Artesia. “In my wildest expectations, I did not expect to win by more than 60-40.”
Local 148 official Steve (Rocky) Burke attributed the landslide vote to rank-and-file fatigue with the long-running dispute and to members’ desire to receive the new pact’s added financial benefits in time for Christmas.
The contract includes salary increases that are retroactive to March, when the previous agreement expired.
Officials of McDonnell’s Douglas Aircraft unit applauded. “Now we are ready to move ahead together to face the challenges of an increasingly . . . competitive aviation industry,” said W. D. Crapo, Douglas vice president of human resources and communications.
Although McDonnell Douglas has posted strong earnings in recent months, its longer-term prospects are uncertain. Its commercial aircraft business in Long Beach is facing stiff competition in a recession-shrunken market, and its C-17 military cargo jet has been beleaguered by delays and cost overruns.
The contract ratified Tuesday was only slightly different from one rejected by a 2-to-1 margin in April and also turned down in March. The new agreement calls for wage increases of about 30% over the four-year life of the contract, including cost-of-living increases and compounding of annual wage hikes.
One change was the timing of a one-time, lump-sum payment of 4% of workers’ annual pay. It will be paid Dec. 20 instead of Jan. 10. Another change is a one-year delay in the start of retiree contributions for health-care benefits. The erosion of retiree health-care benefits was highly controversial--and it is an issue, Burke predicts, that will return to haunt workers. The new contract places maximums on what McDonnell Douglas will contribute to health-care benefits for some workers who retire after Jan. 1, 1994.
“This contract will be OK for a month or two, but it’s a four-year contract,” Burke said.
The voting took place between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday at a football stadium adjacent to the huge aerospace facility. The paper ballots were tabulated by hand late Tuesday at union headquarters.
A handful of picketers urged fellow workers to reject the contract for the third time, but even their tone was relatively moderate. “Strikes don’t work anymore,” hydraulic mechanic Rick Diaz said.
The Douglas plant has been a hotbed of worker discontent and union turmoil for decades. The latest contract talks highlighted deep differences between Richard Rios, president of Local 148, and Bruce Lee, the UAW’s Western regional director. Both were out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment.
