Merry Christmas: Jeep Workers Approve 8-Year Contract

Jeep Workers Approve 8-Year Contract; Two More Models Will Now Be Made on Toledo Assembly Line

TOLEDO, Ohio December 23, 2003; The AP reported that Jeep workers approved an eight-year contract that calls for bringing production of two more vehicles to a Toledo assembly plant that already makes the Liberty and Wrangler. The agreement also calls for adding a new supplier-operated factory that will make parts for the vehicles, the first time for such an arrangement at a Big Three assembly site in the U.S.

While no new jobs will be added, the contract guarantees jobs or buyouts for union members who are now laid off.

DaimlerChrysler AG will invest $2.1 billion at the site in Toledo.

Jeep workers approved the contract 3,002-1,012 in voting Monday, according to United Auto Workers Local 12 officials. More than 90 percent of eligible workers cast ballots.

"I'm excited, I knew that the membership would do the right thing," said Nick Vuich, Local 12 Jeep unit chairman.

The contract provides each worker with a $3,000 signing bonus along with pay raises in the second, third and fourth years. Wage increases will mirror those reached in separate national contract talks between the UAW and the company for other Chrysler workers nationwide.

The supplier-run factory would be built next to Jeep's 3-year-old assembly plant, and union jobs would be transferred to the new plant that would have vehicle body and paint shops, Vuich said.

The investments would be for a redesigned Jeep Wrangler and Liberty and two other vehicles not yet identified, along with some factory improvements, Vuich said.

With 4,700 workers, the plant is the Toledo area's largest industrial employer.

Some workers said Monday they voted for the agreement because they thought it was a good one, even though it will mean suppliers will build painted bodies for the upcoming redesigned Jeep Wrangler starting in 2006.

Other segments of the redesigned Wrangler and another vehicle off its platform, including as much as a complete chassis, are to be built by suppliers as part of the agreement, too.

Vuich said that getting 800 of 4,700 members back to work was a primary focus of the negotiations. Under the pact, all members will be provided with buyouts or jobs, possibly with suppliers and in some cases for the same wages and benefits.