DETROIT— United Auto Workers delegates on Tuesday rejected an opportunity to codify in their constitution "equal pay for equal work" ahead of next year's negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers, and increased the salaries of International Executive Board officers.
The "two-tier" system implemented during 2007 negotiations prior to the auto industry's taxpayer bailout have long been a complaint of workers. They allowed the companies to start employees hired after 2007 at lower wages and without a pension. Looking ahead, the automakers' creation of joint ventures to build electric-vehicle batteries, many fear, would create the opportunity for the companies to offer different pay and benefits to those workers, too.
"I have a lot of concern with the two-tier system. I would like to see some moves to get away from that and see more activism in that direction," said Cynthia "CC" Krontz, 40, a delegate from Local 3058 in Louisville, Kentucky, who works for Dana Inc. "There's a lot of exciting possible changes that are brewing and some discontent about what happened ... This is a tumultuous time, but we can come together to change things and make it better."
