All Toledo GM workers expected to be back to work Wednesday

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - After six weeks on the picket lines, the United Auto Workers strike appears to finally be nearing an end. The UAW has come to tentative agreements with Ford, GM and Stellantis.

If the tentative deals are ratified by the membership, they’ll be getting a 25% wage increase over the next four-and-a-half years, a cost of living adjustment and boosts to retirement income, including 401k contributions.

Although most members are back to work, the tentative contract isn’t a done deal just yet. So what’s next for workers -- the thousands here in Toledo and NW Ohio?

Tony Totty tells 13 Action News that by Wednesday, all 340 GM workers will be back on the assembly lines.

The United Auto Workers announced Monday that it had reached a tentative deal with General Motors, days after Ford and Stellantis reached agreements.

Even though Toledo’s GM plant was not part of the targeted strike, some of its members were still affected.

“We supply five facilities in General Motors with our transmissions, and two of those facilities went down,” said UAW Local 14 president Tony Totty. “Because of that, our members were put out of the facility due to a labor struggle or labor situation, so because of that they were actually receiving strike pay, even though we didn’t have a strike line.”

Now that there is a tentative agreement, Totty says the next step is to vote on what’s been decided.

“On Friday, the local leadership of General Motors -- all the presidents and chair people across the nation -- are going to meet in Detroit and we’re going to hear the contract for the first time ourselves and then we’re going to vote on whether or not it’s suitable to take to our memberships.” said Totty.

Once the deal gets to the members, they will vote on it. If it passes by a majority vote, it will be a ratified deal. But if members still don’t agree...

“We don’t know. We’ve never been in this situation before. Normally you ratify your contract before you go back to work, but because of this new strategy that Detroit has, we’re in uncharted territory and we don’t know what would happen if it was turned down. Do you take everybody out? Do you take the facilities that were already out or do you take different facilities out? We don’t know.” said Totty.

So for right now, Totty is hopeful that all members fully understand what’s in the deal and vote based on what’s best for them.

“Everybody will hear the deal. There’s something in there -- a little something for everybody and I’m happy to say our process should work, and the members will decide whether it’s a good deal for them or not.” said Totty.

Totty told 13 Action News that GM didn’t get everything they wanted in the deal, but he says it’s great to have battery facilities included -- they just need to figure out exactly what that entails, along with everything else included in the deal.

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