UAW says 3 locals against GM deal so far, 9 for

By Jui Chakravorty

DETROIT (Reuters) - A United Auto Workers union local in Wentzville, Missouri, is the third to reject General Motors Corp's (GM.N) tentative labor contract with the union, the local's financial secretary said on Friday.

But of at least 12 UAW locals -- representing more than 12,000 active members -- that have completed voting this week, nine have voted for the contract. The UAW is aiming to complete voting by all its active GM members, totaling more than 73,000, by Wednesday, October 10.

A majority of workers casting ballots must approve the contract for it to be ratified.

Members of UAW local 2250 in Wentzville voted down a contract that would leave the future of their plant uncertain by making production of the plant's next-generation vehicles dependent on demand beyond 2012. Roughly 70 percent of the voters turned down the deal.

Earlier in the day, members of local 163 in Romulus, Michigan, also voted down the contract despite the automaker's promise to keep work at the plant. Local President Larry Long said he was unsure why more than 50 percent of those voters were against the deal.

Union members at UAW Local 465, which represents the engine factory in Massena, New York, voted down the contract on Friday, local President Tony Arquiett said. Under the tentative contract, that plant is scheduled to close in 2008.

Members of UAW local 1753 in Lansing, Michigan, backed the contract at about 60 percent, the local's president said late Friday.

The UAW's GM members in dozens of locals across the United States must vote on the contract reached last week, which ended a two-day national strike against the largest U.S. automaker.

The UAW still does not have contracts with Ford Motor Co (F.N) and privately held Chrysler LLC.

The contract with GM would set a second-tier lower wage for workers not involved in direct production and establish a trust for retiree health care that would be partly overseen by the union. It also would make 3,000 temporary workers permanent and permit buyouts.

A quarter of the factory workers could be replaced with lower cost hires under the contract.

If approved, the contract would allow GM to greatly reduce the labor cost advantage enjoyed by Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and the two other Japanese automakers operating production plants in the United States.

The average UAW-represented GM assembly line worker makes just under $28 per hour before health-care and other benefits that take total hourly labor costs to $73, the automaker has said.

By contrast, Toyota's average hourly cost for workers at its U.S. plants is under $48 per hour including benefits.

GM and other U.S. automakers have argued that they need more flexibility to hire lower cost temporary workers and to pay janitorial and other workers in their plants below the UAW-mandated wage scale.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said last week that the union and GM were negotiating a program of buyouts and early retirement offers for the automaker's workers who are making the higher wages.