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Ex-auto workers win job deal at electric vehicle factory in Ohio

Name
Various
Union
United Auto Workers
Job title
Automobile workers

TUC Worker-Led Transition Project

The TUC worker-led transition project partners with manufacturing workers to futureproof industrial jobs. This case study is part of a worker-led transitions series, highlighting international examples where workers across sectors are playing an important role in the transition of their workplaces, helping to secure good quality work and shape their industries into the future.

Site details 

Site name: Ultium Cells
Operator: General Motors (GM) and LG Energy Solution (LGES)
Location: Warren, Ohio
Country: USA
Date: 2022 - 2024

United Auto Workers win job deal at new electric vehicle battery manufacturing site in former automotive industrial town.

Warren, a small city in North-East Ohio, has a long history in automotive manufacturing. General Motors (GM) manufactured vehicles in the community from 1966 until 2019 at its factory in Lordstown, on the outskirts of Warren. Between 2011-2019, the Lordstown factory manufactured more than two million Chevrolet Cruze cars. But as the Cruze model went out of production, the company closed the factory. The closure resulted in 1,600 people losing their jobs – a huge impact for a city of only 39 thousand people.  

In December 2019, GM and LG Energy Solutions (LGES) announced they would build a factory adjacent to the former GM facility to produce electric vehicle (EV) battery cells, which opened in August 2022. This case study sets out how United Auto Workers, USA’s automotive union, secured new employment for former auto workers in the EV battery facility, Ultium Cells. 

“We just knew – because of Lordstown’s history – that we had to organise and get these jobs back here,” says George Goranitis, now the UAW President (lead union rep) at Ultium.1

The challenge 

The closure of the Lordstown site and resulting 1,600 job losses had a major impact on the community. Families were separated, average household incomes declined, poverty rates increased, and Lordstown lost a third of its tax revenue due to $3 million loss in income taxes.2 Many workers took up transfer opportunities within GM and moved away – among them George Goranitis (now a union rep at the Ultium site), who had worked at the GM plant for 11 years. The Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University estimates that the direct job losses at Lordstown resulted in a further 6,400 job losses in the supply chain and local community (indirect and induced jobs), resulting in a total of $8 billion losses in economic activity in the regional economy. 3 The closure of the Lordstown site was only the latest event in a trend of shrinking numbers of industrial jobs since the 1970s when the GM facility alone supported 15,000 workers.4

When the Ultium site opened, it employed 1,700. Those workers who had previously worked for GM and applied for new jobs at Ultium (like George Goranitis) were dismayed to find out that the paycheck was much lower: with a starting wage of $16.50 an hour, compared with a median wage in the area of $18.91 an hour, and $20.32 an hour for manufacturing jobs. Workers often needed to subsidise their wages by working extra jobs. “We had single mothers on government assistance,” Goranitis told a local newspaper. “It was a tough time.” 5 Low wages also meant that many workers were leaving to find better wages elsewhere. 

What workers did next

The United Auto Workers organised to respond to the two challenges of unemployed former auto workers and reduced pay and conditions at the new Ultium facility. 

In 2022, a few hourly employees at Ultium approached United Auto Workers for advice about becoming unionised. They began meeting with organisers about work conditions, policies, practices, and wages. Later that year George Goranitis, the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local President, helped to organise a successful unionisation campaign.  

In December 2022, workers voted to join the UAW by a huge majority with 710 yes, 16 no votes. 6 This allowed the union to begin collective bargaining negotiations with Ultium. 

In September 2023, UAW auto workers from the Big Three car manufacturers (General Motors, Ford and Crysler (now Stellantis)) went on simultaneous strike over wages, benefits, and job protection in the transition to electric vehicles. 7

Among the gains made by the Big Three strike was an agreement to bring the Ultium Cells workforce into the UAW/GM Master Agreement.  Workers who had been employed at Lordstown GM were now able to apply for new jobs at Ultium Cells, whilst keeping their wages, benefits and seniority. 8 In March 2024, a transfer program began, which allowed eligible former GM Lordsdown employees to apply for positions at Ultium Cells.  175 former GM employees began work at Ultium Cells. 9 This facility now employs nearly 2,200 workers, more than the GM facility when it closed. 

In June 2024, UAW members at the Ultium facility agreed a new contract with a 98 percent approval, this established a further raise in wages, benefits, and work conditions. 

How were obstacles overcome? 

The workforce at Ultium was initially unfamiliar with being part of a union.  They faced intimidation and pushback when attempting to spread the word about joining. 10 In one example, UAW t-shirts were given out for employees to wear at work and despite pushback from their employers, some former GM employees were able to educate their coworkers that they were protected to wear UAW clothing under section 7 of the National Labour Relations Act. 11  

The UAW aimed to establish a comprehensive agreement with 73 articles covering wages, benefits and working conditions.  However, Ultium preferred to rely on its employee handbook rather than adopting a formal union contract.  A major point of contention was that Ultium claimed that they were a Tier 1 supplier, rather than an automaker.  This classification is important because Tier 1 suppliers typically offer lower wages and benefits than automaker-owned assembly plants.  The UAW pushed back, arguing that Ultium workers should receive the same pay and protections as other unionised auto employees. The coordinated national strike action in 2023, and the resulting inclusion of Ultium workers in a national collective agreement, secured the workers’ ability to rely on collectively bargained wages and conditions. 

What was the result? 

GM employees who lost their jobs when the plant closed were able to apply for available positions at the Ultium facility in Warren 12 whilst keeping their current wages, seniority and benefits. Families who may have been displaces when the plant closed, could be reunited.  

The new contract obtained following the successful unionisation campaign saw their benefits  improve considerably. They saw a 63 percent starting wage increase, as well as terms for workers to get a 30 percent raise over three years.  As well as time and a half after 10 hours and paid relief time, so workers are now entitled to paid breaks or time off. For many, the improved pay means that workers no longer have to supplement their income at Ultium with other, low-paid gigs. 13

UAW secured agreement to four union health and safety representatives and one full time industrial hygienist at the plant. 

And in terms of healthcare, the company agreed to a one-time $500 lump sum payment to offset any out-of-pocket healthcare cost differentials between Ultium and GM coverage. 14

Due to investment in training and development of employees, jobs at Ultium are now considered sought-after, and the union has expressed the intention to use the Ultium contract as a model for other EV battery plants. 

George Goranitis, the current United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1112 President said “members now are able to go out and are able to spend the money at local businesses... So that they're spreading the wealth around here as well, with the wages that they're making not only that now we have traffic that coming into town for Ultium, and they're stopping at the local gas stations here in Lordstown, they're stopping at the local restaurants here in Lordstown.” 15

In March 2024, anode materials producer Graphite One announced it would invest $435 million and is expected to employ more than 160 residents at a facility in Niles, Ohio, a 15-minute drive from the Ultium facility. 16 This helps catalyse the region as a growing “cluster” for the automotive supply chain. 

Success factors and lessons 

Organising with former employees: employees who had previously worked at GM were able to help educate workers and highlight the benefits of being part of a union as well as the rights they had during the unionisation campaign and thereafter. 

Co-ordinated industrial action campaign:  the co-ordinated campaign in 2023, covering sites across the country, pressured the top management at GM to meet union demands for upgrading pay and conditions, as well as the opportunities for former employees. 

Public investment with conditions on jobs: The Ultium plant receives subsidies from the Ohio state government conditional on maintaining jobs at the site.  The Ohio Department of Development awarded Ultium Cells a $13.8 million tax credit at a 1.95 percent payroll rate over a period of 15 years in 2020 for committing to creating 1,000 new jobs at the facility.17 The agreement requires the company to maintain operations in Warren for at least 18 years and generate $45 million in new payroll. 18

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