Wait for results begins as voting draws to a close at several locals
We’re still waiting on results but that may not be known until later tonight. Polling closed at the locals in Davenport and Des Moines, Iowa at 1pm central time. Polls have also just closed at the Harvester Works in East Moline, Illinois at 4pm central. The closing times at other locations were not immediately available. Waterloo, the largest local and center of opposition to the TA, continues voting until 7pm central, under an undemocratic voting method which splits workers up alphabetically into a dozen different voting sessions.
The only results so far have been from the small parts distribution center in Atlanta Georgia. Workers voted for the contract by 77 percent to 22 percent. This was also the first local to report in the last vote. This is a larger margin than when it voted to earlier this month in favor of the contract by 63 to 37 percent. However, this is not necessarily an indicator of the national results as the number of voters at the local is less than 1 percent of the total. However, turnout at the plant, where the UAW campaigned heavily for a ‘yes’ vote, did decline from 92 to 83, according to one worker.
While the tentative agreement was rejected two weeks ago by a 10 point margin, the ‘no’ votes were heavily concentrated in a few large locals, especially Waterloo and Dubuque. Several, mostly smaller locals around the country voted in favor of the deal by smaller margins. This means that, for the UAW and management, the path towards ratification–aside from the ever-present danger of ballot-stuffing, which workers must be on guard against–appears to depend on two factors.
First, they must increase the margin of victory at those locals, such as Des Moines, Ottumwa and Davenport, which voted in favor of the contract two weeks ago. Second, both the margin and the turnout at the major centers of opposition, above all Waterloo, must decline by a sufficient amount to reduce the weight of the ‘no’ votes at these locations in the national totals.
Significantly, Deere management, which had been on a PR blitz in recent weeks, taking out targeted ads on social media to campaign for the deal and contacting hundreds of local businesses near Deere plants in an attempt to mobilize opposition to the strike, has gone completely radio silent since the UAW announced the re-vote on Friday. In fact, the PR offensive continues, but with the UAW as the mouthpiece. Workers at Waterloo have reported that UAW officials and “helpers” have been campaigning aggressively for a yes vote at the union hall yesterday and today.
However, opposition to the contract remains high. For workers, the path towards defeating the re-vote depends upon their vigilance against ballot stuffing by the union and upon their ability to defy the union’s campaign aimed at isolating and demoralizing them. Workers…
Read More: Opposition remains high as polls begin to close in contract re-vote at John