NUMMI Workers Ratify Plant Closing Package
Some 4,500 UAW Local 2244 members have ratified a closing agreement for the Fremont, Calif., plant with New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI). In today’s ratification vote, members of Local 2244 approved the agreement by a margin of 90 percent.
UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles praised members of the Local 2244 bargaining committee for their hard work and solidarity.
We are all deeply saddened to see these operations come to an end. While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, the terms of this agreement will certainly help cushion the impact for our members.
UAW Reaches Tentative Agreement on NUMMI Closing
The UAW today announced it has reached a tentative agreement on the planned closing of Toyota’s New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, Calif. The agreement covers some 4,500 members of UAW Local 2244.
The tentative agreement will be presented to members of the local in the coming days. Details are being withheld pending a ratification vote by the membership. Voting dates have not yet been scheduled.
NUMMI Closing Highlights Need for U.S. Manufacturing Policy
Closing the New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. automotive plant in California will eliminate 25,000 jobs in the state and cost taxpayers $2.3 billion to replace the jobs lost, according to a March 3 report by University of California professor Harley Shaiken.
The Daily Labor Report (subscription required) notes:
California and municipalities near the Fremont, Calif., plant will lose nearly a billion dollars of revenue in the decade after the plant closes, according to a blue-ribbon panel formed by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer (D).
Using estimates by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, the report found that “just creating 4,700 jobs-the number lost at NUMMI itself—would cost $433 million.”
