Correction: An earlier version of this story was incorrect regarding some ineligible manufacturing plants whose employees had voted on the contract. It has been corrected below.
The United Auto Workers union has narrowly ratified its agreement with General Motors.
The UAW website shows the tentative agreement passed by a margin of less than 4,000 votes.
UAW Local 2209 represents union workers at General Motors’ Fort Wayne Assembly plant. Local 2209 Bargaining Chairman Rich LeTourneau said the result will likely get appealed by membership.
He said some manufacturing plants that voted for ratification are not yet eligible to vote.
Those facilities will become eligible to vote with the ratification of the new contract, according to LeTourneau.
With the margin being so slim, LeTourneau said it is possible those ineligible votes could have been enough to cause the ratification vote to pass.
What is normally a 60-day appeals process could be shorter. Any UAW local in the U.S. can appeal the results.
Membership has 45 days to appeal before the vote becomes solidified.
LeTourneau said UAW leadership told him if the tentative agreement is not ratified, they will go back to the negotiating table without starting the strike back up.
He said if Local 2209 does not file, “somebody will.” He believes that appeal will come within days.
