Mitsubishi, UAW reach tentative agreement

Lindsay Chappell

Automotive News | September 26, 2008 - 10:56 am EST

Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. has reached a tentative labor agreement with its U.S. factory workers after three weeks of operating without a contract.

Workers at the Normal, Ill., plant learned of the agreement today from an announcement over the plant’s public address system as the line stopped for lunch.

Neither side would comment today on the specifics of the new agreement or say when a ratification vote would be taken.

The Illinois factory, which builds the Galant sedan, Eclipse coupe, Eclipse Spyder and Endeavor crossover, has been the linchpin of Mitsubishi’s North American business plan in the past. But Mitsubishi’s struggles in the United States have kept the plant running below capacity for years.

So far this year, Mitsubishi retailers have been selling only about 9,000 new vehicles a month in the United States, including imports. The Normal plant, originally built to produce 240,000 vehicles a year, is currently running a single shift with a capacity of 135,000 a year.

It remains to be seen whether the new contract will reduce union wages at the plant, as the UAW has agreed to do at other U.S. automakers.

In 2006, the factory work force agreed to a $4-an-hour wage cut to help sustain the operation. That agreement ended in April of this year when wages were restored.

Mitsubishi’s contract with UAW Local 2488 expired Sept. 5 after an eight-day extension to keep negotiators at the tables. Talks reached an impasse and ended Sept. 6 but resumed Wednesday, Sept. 24.

Local 2488 had agreed to two previous contract extensions over the past three years.

“Neither the UAW or MMNA will have further comment on the proposed agreement pending a ratification vote by UAW Mitsubishi workers,” said a statement released today by the UAW.