UAW deal leaves factories at risk of closing

DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers may have won job security pledges from General Motors Corp. in its latest tentative contract agreement, but 15 factories across the country could be on shaky ground after the products they now make go out of production in a few years.

In the document that spells out the tentative pact between GM and the UAW, their futures are listed as: "demand and business case dependent," "no future product allocation," or even possible sale or closure.

Fifteen factories in places such as Orion Township; Wentzville, Mo.; and Wilmington, Del.; have been left on shaky ground by the pact that the United Auto Workers hailed as having won unprecedented job security from GM.

Most of the 15 factories will see their current work go out of production in 2011, when the four-year contract would expire, according to a UAW document called the "white book" that spells out contract details.

The automaker has 58 factories in the United States.

UAW officials, in a summary of the contract, touted job security pledges won in the negotiations including commitments for new products at 16 assembly plants. About 74,000 hourly GM workers are voting on the pact this week and next, with a final tally to be done by Oct. 10.

A summary of the contract provided to local union leaders last week said that GM has agreed not to sell or close any assets or business units beyond those already identified. Three facilities, a service and parts operation in St. Louis and powertrain plants in Livonia and Massena, N.Y., are identified by GM as exempt from the closing moratorium, the summary said.

The uncertainty over additional plants has led a union dissident to urge members to vote against the tentative agreement.

"The average UAW member understands that General Motors has never lived up to its job security guarantees," said Gregg Shotwell, a GM worker and frequent critic of the UAW.

GM will pit the 15 plants against each other to extract more concessions at a later date, Shotwell predicted.

But Mike O'Rourke, president of a local in Spring Hill, Tenn., which has "demand and business case dependent" listed after its main product, said the new pact is no different than previous contracts.

"To me that's business as usual," said O'Rourke, whose factory is being retooled to make a new Chevrolet crossover vehicle and will make a future GM sport utility vehicle.