UAW, USW WORKERS IN 6 STATES OK CONTRACT
Dana deal protects wages, health care
Members of the UAW and the United Steelworkers (USW) have overwhelmingly
ratified an agreement with Dana Corp. for workers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan,
Texas, Kentucky and Indiana.
Members approved the four-year agreement by 86 percent on July 24.
The deal, approved July 27 by a U.S. bankruptcy court, protects wages and health care for active workers and pensions and health care for retired workers. Also, it helps Dana emerge from bankruptcy with the potential for future success while preserving jobs and defending the standard of living for UAW and USW workers.
“We went from being closed to gaining 130 new jobs,” said Scott Williams, president of UAW Delphi Local 1765 in Lima, Ohio. “It wasn’t without sacrifice, but we gained protections that we would not have if there was no union.”
The agreement covers more than 2,300 UAW members and 6,200 UAW retirees. belonging to UAW locals in Lima; Pottstown, Pa.; Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Mich.; Longview, Texas; and Elizabethtown, Ky.; and for USW locals in Fort Wayne and Marion, Ind., and Henderson, Ky.
“This agreement will prove to be an important victory snatched from the jaws of a failed bankruptcy system. It is an example of the UAW using a combination of tried and tested bargaining strategies along with innovative new capital strategies,” said UAW Vice President Bob King, who directs the union’s Independents, Parts and Suppliers Department. “These strategies, along with great solidarity from our local union leadership and membership, made this victory for our UAW Dana members and all UAW members possible.”
Also, the contract provides requirements for the increased likelihood of future profitability for both Dana and union workers. The requirements include limitations on debt, minimum liquidity and a cap on new cash investment.
Centerbridge Capital Partners, an investment company recruited and recommended by the UAW and USW, will invest $500 million in Dana and sponsor the plan to help Dana exit bankruptcy.
“Our members at Dana did a tremendous job under difficult circumstances,” said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, “and we were able negotiate an agreement that protects workers and their families.
“But this fight doesn’t stop at the bargaining table. We also need political change in Washington, D.C., to prevent companies from attempting to manipulate the bankruptcy laws in order to evade their responsibilities to workers and communities.”
Also in the contract, Dana will pay more than $750 million to Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust funds for payment of health care to UAW and USW current and future retirees. This represents more than 70 percent of the projected cost of health care benefits for retirees. Other agreement highlights include:
• Voluntary buyouts of up to $45,000 for eligible employees.
• A new defined-benefit pension plan for all UAW and USW Dana workers, administered by the Steelworkers Pension Trust.
• Post-bankruptcy emergence bonus of common stock valued at approximately $6,000 for each active member with at least one year of seniority.
• A moratorium on moving work out of UAW and USW plants to nonunionized facilities.
• A commitment to source new product lines to UAW- and USW-represented worksites.