Ventra embroiled in labor dispute

MARGARETTA TWP. — The United Auto Workers Local 1216 delayed the vote on a new contract with Flex-N-Gate Ventra Division after workers raised concerns. The factory on Tiffin Avenue manufactures headlamps for the Ford Motor Co. and is one of the area's largest employers. Local 1216, on behalf of about 2,200 Ventra employees it represents, has been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the company for months. A tentative version of the agreement, which would cover Sept. 1, 2020, to Aug. 31, 2024, is available on the union's website. "The (bargaining) team has worked hard to represent the membership, and we were able to address many of the ongoing workplace concerns," Local 1216 president Brett Whyde wrote in a letter to union members on Friday. "We were able to achieve gains in many areas and, as such, protect current work and the opportunity for future work." Many of the employees, however, have criticized the new contract and encouraged fellow union members to vote against ratifying it. Some workers shared photos of signs placed in what appears to be Ventra telling people to vote no. The vote was supposed to take place Wednesday, but Whyde announced in a letter Tuesday that it would not take place after hearing the concerns of members. Whyde said they requested another meeting with the company to revisit the areas of concern before going forward with a vote. The main area of contention appears to be how the contract handles wages and raises. Employees are paid according to pay grades determined by their job. In the previous contract, the starting hourly wage for a production employee was $15.30. It would then increase and catch up to the pay of other production employees in about two years. The new tentative agreement decreases the starting wage to $15, and new hires won't reach the standard rate until about three years of employment. The contract also changes the way the company will give raises to employees. The company would increase union members' pay by 1% each year. For example, the lowest pay grade would receive about a 19 cent increase to its hourly wage in September 2021. The new raise incrementation is a departure from the previous contract, which started with two 25-cent pay raises, and then a series of 20-cent increases every six months. "Why would we want to take backward steps on this contract from our last one," one union member posted on a social networking site. "What did we get in the last one, 20 cents every six months. Why would we want to take less than that? You need to take that 1% and this contract and shove it up where the sun doesn't shine." The Register reached out to United Auto Workers Local 1216 but didn't receive an immediate response.