Labor & Employment Law

NUMMI Workers Ratify Plant Closing Package

By Mike Hall

Some 4,500 UAW Local 2244 members have ratified a closing agreement for the Fremont, Calif., plant with New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI). In today’s ratification vote, members of Local 2244 approved the agreement by a margin of 90 percent.

UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles praised members of the Local 2244 bargaining committee for their hard work and solidarity.

We are all deeply saddened to see these operations come to an end. While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, the terms of this agreement will certainly help cushion the impact for our members.

UAW Region 5 Director Jim Wells says the NUMMI workers’ solidarity and support from the union movement helped the workers through a difficult time.

We are grateful to the members for the solidarity they’ve shown throughout this process. We also want to thank our brothers and sisters in the labor movement, community leaders and consumers across the country for the support they’ve given the NUMMI workers.

Established as a joint venture between General Motors (GM) and Toyota Motors in 1984, the NUMMI facility most recently built the Pontiac Vibe, Toyota Corolla and Tacoma pickup. As part of a structured bankruptcy, GM eliminated its Pontiac brand in 2009. Shortly after, Toyota announced its intention to close the NUMMI facility on April 1, 2010.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 18, 2010 (boomark / email).