TOLEDO, Ohio — As United Auto Workers across the country continue to vote on whether or not to ratify their new contracts, WTOL 11 have learned the tentative results for one of the Big Three.
According to the Associated Press, GM's workers have passed their new deal, with 54% approval nationwide.
Meanwhile, Stellantis and Ford are still collecting votes.
In Toledo, UAW Local 14 President Tony Totty told WTOL 11 that while his workers didn't love the deal, with 56% voting "no" to the tentative agreement, they are ready to accept the results and start looking at all the benefits.
Totty said that he's looking forward to his members taking advantage of everything it has to offer.
In particular, the tuition assistance and the healthcare package, are benefits that Totty said will only help his workers moving forward.
But the issues he and other members have brought up in the last couple of days still stand. Many workers believe the 9.4% pension increase is simply too small after 20 years without any raise.
Totty said even more so, he feels like the margins on this national vote were so razor thin because members feel like there was money left behind on the negotiating table.
While the new agreement grants 25% in base wage increases through April 2028, raising the top wage to over $42 an hour, it's a far cry from the 40% wage increase promised by UAW President Shawn Fain, and Totty said some people feel this deal didn't live up to its potential.
"That's exactly why the people are so frustrated, that point. I'm hearing it the most from members, I'm seeing it on social media as well. President Fain is new, and he raised the expectations and then bargained in the media, which isn't what we normally do," Totty said. "And there wasn't any step-down. It was 'hey, we're going to get all these things,' and then 'hey, we have a tentative agreement,' and he didn't really get into why this is the deal after everything he was promising."
Totty said he accepts the early results as legitimate, so he said now it's time to get back to the job, and begin planning to earn what they didn't get this time, during the next contract cycle.