How the UAW pushed through its sellout at Chrysler

Chrysler, on Oct. 24, told each of the 600 enhanced temporary workers at the plant that they will receive a $3,000 signing bonus if they vote to approve the contract. The offer was made after a Bloomberg News tally released Oct. 23 showed 11,160 votes against the contract and only 9,210 for the deal.

Members of the UAW executive council reportedly went to the plant a day earlier to promise those workers that they would be the first in line for full-time positions.

Six large locals, most of them representing workers at assembly plants, have turned down the deal, while nine small locals approved it. Chrysler has 45,000 UAW members, but neither the company nor the union will say how many workers are eligible to vote, leaving room for disputes over the legitimacy of final vote tallies.

The attempt to buy the votes of temporary workers at Belvidere is notable because those workers constitute a second tier, or second class, at that plant. Belvidere was the first assembly plant to institute what amounted to a full scale two-tier wage/benefits system almost two years ago. The “enhanced temporaries” there work side by side with regular employees, doing the same work but earning far less in pay and benefits.