Workers at General Motors Corp.'s Baltimore van plant have approved a landmark labor agreement designed to lower manufacturing costs and help attract a new product to the vulnerable factory. More than 60 percent of the plant's 2,300 workers voted this week to adopt more flexible work rules beginning Sept. 15 that were once considered taboo for the United Auto Workers.
Workers are also now responsible for cleaning their own work areas.
By approving a local labor agreement before GM's national contract is settled, UAW officials in Baltimore hope to send a message of cooperation to GM executives weighing the plant's future. We are trying to get a new product. Alfred said no job reductions are anticipated. Top UAW executives generally oppose such agreements because they often pit one plant against another for precious new investment. But Alfred said the union had no choice and that Solidarity House supported the contract.