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LORDSTOWN, Ohio – UAW Local 1112 members voted overwhelmingly to ratify their historic contract at Ultium Cells, which builds battery cells for GM electric vehicles. The local contract, approved by 98% over the weekend, sets a new standard for the EV industry with strong wages and benefits and historic health and safety protections.

The Ultium workers speak about the contract victory in a new video launched today by the UAW. The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage. 

“It enables me to just go ahead and move forward in life rather than living from paycheck to paycheck,” said Ultium worker Donald Bevly.

“This is setting a precedent that can be built on,” said Ultium worker Chris Wyatt. “This is a guideline that every other EV plant can follow through with.”

When Ultium opened in 2021, the workers were nonunion, they made just $16.50 an hour, and the EV industry was in a race to the bottom. But the Ultium workers organized with the UAW in late 2022 and during the Stand Up Strike, they were brought under the GM national agreement.

By October 2027, Ultium production workers will make $35 an hour, 112% more than before they joined the UAW. The contract includes:

30% raise over three years for production workers
Immediate $3,000 bonus
Four full-time union health and safety representatives in the plant as well as a full-time union industrial hygienist on site

“The benefits are just the best benefits I’ve had in my life,” said Ultium worker Lori Lovitz. “Paid hospitalization, holiday pay. I’ve never had this many paid holidays. Job security.”

Another Ultium plant is beginning operations in Spring Hill, Tenn., and battery plants that will employ tens of thousands of workers are being built across the country. The Ultium contract sets a powerful precedent for those facilities and the entire EV industry.  

For more details about the agreement, visit uaw.org/ultium

UAW Local 1112 has reached a historic tentative agreement at Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio, where workers build electric vehicle batteries for GM vehicles. The agreement marks a historic breakthrough for electric vehicle workers and a path forward that ends the race to the bottom pursued by corporate America throughout the EV transition.

The local agreement builds on the successes of the national contract that Ultium workers joined as a major win of the Stand Up Strike.

“Eighteen months ago, this company was on a low road path to poverty wages, unsafe conditions, and a dark future for battery workers in America,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Ultium workers said, ‘Hell no,’ got organized, and fought back. Now they’ve more than doubled their wages by the end of this contract, won record health and safety language, and showed the world what it means to win a just transition.”

“We were told at the beginning of bargaining that Ultium workers would never be allowed to join the UAW’s national agreement at GM,” said UAW Vice President Mike Booth. “Not only did we prove them wrong, but we did them one better, winning a major local agreement that sets the standard for the EV battery industry.”

“Five years ago, when they closed Lordstown Assembly, it was a major gut punch – I know, I lived it,” said UAW Region 2B Director David Green. “They wrote Lordstown off for dead. They thought we’d settle for low wages and unsafe jobs. They thought wrong, and now Ultium workers are leading the way.”

“Organizing to win our union took relentless persistence on behalf of hundreds of my coworkers at Ultium. Negotiating this contract was no different,” said UAW Local 1112 Shop Chairman Josh Ayers. “We want this agreement to become a cornerstone for current and future battery plants across the nation. First we planned. Then we took action. And now we have a tentative agreement to be proud of.”

Now, the 1,600 UAW members at Ultium Cells will review the details of the agreement and hold a ratification vote in the coming days. If ratified, the agreement will set a new standard for electric vehicle battery workers everywhere and mark a major milestone in the just transition to EVs.

For more on the fight for justice at Ultium, visit UAW.org/Ultium.

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Tag Archive for: Local 1112

VIDEO: Ultium Members Vote 98% to Ratify Contract that Sets New Standard for EV Industry

UAW Members at Ultium Cells in Lordstown Reach EV Industry-Defining Tentative Agreement

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