Indiana Locals Reject Chrysler Contract

About 3,000 of the approximately 5,000 members of Local 685 voted, and 72 percent voted against the contract, union officials said. Some 78 percent of 737 members of Local 1166 who voted rejected the contract, according to information posted on the local's Web site.

Eight local unions representing more than 16,000 workers have now turned down the landmark pact, while six locals representing about 9,100 workers have approved it. It's nearly impossible to keep a running total because most local union officials give out only percentages and not the number of people who voted.

Yet with a large chunk of the 45,000 workers covered by the contract still voting, UAW leaders in Detroit have started a heavy lobbying campaign for passage. Four more large locals in suburban Detroit are scheduled to vote Wednesday.

Before the Kokomo locals' results, counts by the international union showed the deal passing with just over 50 percent of the vote, according to a person who has been briefed on the vote count. The person did not want to be identified because the count has not been made public.

In Kokomo, UAW members packed the Local 685 hall Tuesday to listen to leaders from Detroit explain the contract before the vote. Several members said later they thought it would be rejected.

"People don't turn out like this to vote `yes,'" said Paula Vaughn as she nodded toward a full parking lot.

Her husband, Greg, who retired in April, said a lot of union members had questions about job security.

"That's what most people are worried about -- where's their job going to be not four years down the road but 10 or 15 years down the road," Greg Vaughn said.

The new vehicle guarantees for factories in the Chrysler contract mainly run for the life of the contract but are less than General Motors Corp. guaranteed workers in its contract settlement. Many opponents of the Chrysler deal also object to a lower-tier wage scale for many new hires of around $14 per hour.

Tuesday's vote was disappointing to David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

"I think the future of Chrysler is dependent on a competitive wage structure," he said.

Cole said it's too early to tell whether the union as a whole will accept or reject the deal, which was reached Oct. 10 after a six-hour strike.

"I think it's going to be close," he said, noting that Chrysler has an unpredictable voting history.

Chrysler sells most of its vehicles in North America and has little global presence. Its new owner, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, needs a partner to give it the global economy of scale that its main competitor, GM, already is using, Cole said.

Without a competitive wage agreement, no partner will join Chrysler, and that could make Cerberus look for other options to get a return on its investment, such as selling off the company in pieces.

UAW workers haven't rejected a national contract since Chrysler employees did in 1982, said Mike Smith, director of the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University.

If the contract is voted down, the UAW could return to the bargaining table or call for a revote.

Chrysler employs a total of 6,300 people at three transmission factories and a casting plant in Kokomo. Vote totals for the other local in Kokomo were unavailable Tuesday night.

Results from another local in the Detroit area were announced late Tuesday. At UAW Local 1248, which represents about 900 workers at Chrysler's Mopar parts division sites in suburban Detroit, 86 percent of the 653 workers who voted Sunday supported the deal, local President Harvey Hawkins Jr. said.

The UAW still must negotiate a contract with Ford Motor Co., but talks there aren't expected to intensify until the situation at Chrysler is resolved. Ford spokesman Marcey Evans confirmed that talks between Ford and the UAW were ongoing Tuesday.

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.