Addison company prompts UAW for contract vote on Indy plant

INDIANAPOLIS -- The potential buyer of a General Motors stamping plant in Indianapolis is appealing to union members to allow a vote on a proposed contract that could keep the factory open.

Members of United Auto Workers Local 23 decided over the weekend not to hold a scheduled Monday vote among the 650 workers on the offer from Addison-based JD Norman Industries. Union leaders said the offer cut base wages of $29 an hour nearly in half.

Company president Justin D. Norman said in a full-page advertisement Tuesday in The Indianapolis Star that the contract offer was the only way to keep the factory open and that it protected the GM transfer rights of the employees.

GM announced last year it planned to close the plant in 2011.