Union workers at 22 auto dealerships in St. Paul and the East Metro suburbs voted Sunday to ratify a new three-year agreement with their employers that includes annual wage increases of 2 percent.
The contract, which took effect today, covers about 600 members of Machinists District 77, including mechanics, parts personnel and service technicians.
[Click here to view a list of the East Metro dealerships that hire union workers.]
In addition to annual raises, workers successfully bargained to increase the contributions their employers make to a jointly run health-insurance trust and the union’s pension fun.
District 77 representative Rick Ryan said the union met with representatives of the St. Paul Auto Dealers Association seven times over the last six weeks to negotiate. The union’s bargaining committee unanimously recommended the agreement to members during yesterday’s ratification vote, held at a community center in Vadnais Heights.
“There was give and take on both sides,” Ryan said. “But in the end, we believed this was a good agreement.”
The contract expires April 30, 2019.
Union Advocate 