• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • U-M Warns of Rough Road in 2023-24 for Auto Industry
  • The Rearview Mirror: Ford Courts Ferrari
  • Hyundai Building New $5.5 Billion EV, Battery Manufacturing Complex Near Savannah
  • Tesla Chief Elon Musk and The Very Bad Week
  • Polestar 3 Set for October Debut
  • Faster, Lighter BMW M4 CSL Makes its Debut
  • Fabled Mercedes Sports Car Sells for Record $146M
  • Ford Recalling 39K Full-Size SUVs Due to Potential Fire Issue
  • Mercedes-Benz Abandons Its Entry-Level Ambitions
  • Push is on to Make Stealing a Catalytic Converter a Federal Crime
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line 4Motion
    • A Week With: 2022 Kia Forte GT
    • First Drive: 2023 Genesis GV60
    • First Drive: 2022 Mercedes-Benz C 300
    • First Impression: 2023 Nissan Z
    • A Week With: 2022 Lexus LC 500 Convertible
    • A Week With: 2022 Ram 2500 Power Wagon Crew Cab
    • First Drive: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning
    • First Drive(s): 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate and AT4X
    • A Week With: 2022 BMW i4 M50
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > UAW/union > Corvette Production Threatened by Labor Dispute

        Corvette Production Threatened by Labor Dispute

        Union local rejects proposed agreement from GM.

        Joseph Szczesny
        Joseph Szczesny , Executive Editor
        Jan. 20, 2022

        General Motors and the United Auto Workers are at an impasse in negotiations on a new local contract for union members employed at the company’s assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky where GM builds the prized Chevrolet Corvette. 

        mid-engine Vette at Bowling Green
        Issues have been lingering at the Bowling Green plant for several years now.

        Earlier this month, members of UAW Local 2164 “overwhelmingly” rejected a tentative proposal aimed at ending a dispute about the local contract dispute at the Corvette plant, which has been festering since the summer of 2019. The union struck GM for 40 days in 2019 to settle the national contract, covering wages and benefits.  

        But the local dispute at the Bowling Green plant went unresolved, according to Brian Ferrett, president of UAW Local 2164. 

        David Barnas, GM spokesman, told TheDetroitBureau.com in an e-mail, “We will continue to negotiate with the local UAW in good faith and will run regular production while talks continue.”

        Strike talk

        Ferrett said the local membership was talking about a potential strike in October, but UAW national leadership asked them to defer the request for strike authorization. At the time, the UAW was engaged in protracted strike against the John Deere Co. and facing a referendum on one-member-one vote that changed the way the union will select top officers in the future. 

        UAW headquarters in Detroit asked Local 2164 to try again for a settlement. GM presented what was described as the company’s “final offer” to Local 2164’s bargaining committee, Ferrett said. Before the vote could be scheduled, the Bowling Green plant was damaged during an outbreak of killer tornadoes that swept through western Kentucky.  

        Corvette plant tornado aftermath
        A tornado caused damaged to GM’s Bowling Green, Kentucky plant that produces the Corvette. (Photo credit: News Channel 5 Nashville)

        More than 100 finished Corvettes stored in the plants were also damaged and later scrapped. GM’s final offer was put to a vote of union members and decisively rejected, Ferrett said. 

        Technology and sourcing key issues 

        The union’s bargaining committee declined to endorse the proposed agreement because of major concerns about some key issues, Ferrett said in a telephone interview with TheDetroitBureau.com. One thing the union wanted was guarantees the 3-D printing of key parts included in Corvette’s bill of materials are handled by union members, he said. 

        UAW Local 2164 also wants the jobs “pinstriping” the Vettes “insourced” to the Local’s members, Ferrett said. Currently the pinstriping is handled by a contractor, whose employees do the work inside the Bowling Green plant. 

        “We’d also like some guarantees the Corvette will continue to be built here,” said Ferrett, who transferred to the Bowling Green plant from Ohio when GM began shutting down the assembly plant in Lordstown. 

        The history of Lordstown plant, which GM closed permanently after the 2019 settlement, remains salient in Bowling Green, which took in more than 350 former Lordstown employees. About 150 retired or transferred back to other GM plants in Ohio but about 200 remain at Bowling Green. 

        Lordstown plant sign
        Part of the friction with GM management stems from that hundreds of Bowling Green workers are transfers from the Lordstown, Ohio plant GM shuttered.

        The Bowling Green plant also has been buffeted by COVID-19 even as GM tries to squeeze out more vehicles since dealers are short of inventory — particularly highly desirable vehicles, such as the Corvette, which is GM’s signature vehicle. 

        However, the UAW has not approved a strike at the Bowling Green plant, UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said. 

        COVID keeps workers home 

        Ferrett said more than 100 production workers at Bowling Green were off last week because they had the virus or had to self-quarantine because of exposure to the virus. Another 100 workers are off this week because of the virus and local schools had to curtail in-person classes. 

        GM has brought in nearly two dozen temporary employees to work in the plant in past couple of weeks, Ferrett said. “I’ve never seen them hire temporary workers in the wintertime,” he added. 

        Last summer, GM, which for decades assumed it had surplus of blue-collar labor, set up shop at a “Job Fair” in Bowling Green to try and lure job applicants into the plants, underscoring a labor shortage that has begun to creep up on automakers.  

        The shortage can be attributed to a few things, starting with more competition. New workers can make more money working at Amazon or UPS, which absorb a growing share of the nation’s blue-collar work force, than in an auto plant where temps make $17 to $18 an hour. If hired as full-time employees, they could make $23 per hour in their first full year.  

        COVID, or its ever-present threat, and the nature of working an automotive assembly line — employees often work elbow to elbow — also has discouraged applicants, according to UAW officials who note the union had trouble filling temporary jobs in GM plants in places such as Wentzville, Missouri, Fort Wayne, Indiana and even Flint, Michigan.  

        The Stellantis plant in Toledo, Ohio also could not recruit temporary workers, union officials said. 

        The potential shortfall in hiring will set the stage for a contentious round of negotiations in 2023 when workers will also be seeking substantial wage hikes, an end to two-tier wage scales, and general improvements in wages and benefits.

        Recently Published
        Buying a car

        U-M Warns of Rough Road in 2023-24 for Auto Industry

        Today

        The Rearview Mirror: Ford Courts Ferrari

        May 21, 2022
        Hyundai Savannah logo

        Hyundai Building New $5.5 Billion EV, Battery Manufacturing Complex Near Savannah

        May 20, 2022

        One response to “Corvette Production Threatened by Labor Dispute”

        1. uncle vito says:
          January 20, 2022 at 6:12 pm

          These union members need to be fired. There are plenty of people who really want to work.

          Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2022
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: