Workers vote to reject contract with Fiat Chrysler

In a rare move, Fiat Chrysler’s 40,000 workers appear to have rejected a new contract deal in votes that were to end Wednesday, demanding the return of what they sacrificed during the Detroit Three automakers’ darkest days.

One of those workers is Brian Keller, of Mount Clemens, Mich., who was one of the lucky ones.

After leaving the Navy, he was hired at Chrysler as a housekeeper in 1999, right after the merger with Daimler had sent market expectations soaring.

Even when the company’s fortunes declined and it outsourced its housekeeping work in 2007, Keller got another job picking parts at Mopar, a Chrysler subsidiary. Now, he makes $28 an hour — about $9 more than most people hired after the United Auto Workers agreed to a lower rate for new recruits, helping the company weather bankruptcy and emerge healthy on the other side.

But Keller expected the reductions to be temporary and for the union to negotiate a return to equal pay for equal work. The division is unhealthy, even for those in the privileged “Tier 1.” “It’s demeaning,” Keller says. “You got people who are working side by side with you who are working half what you make, and can’t even afford the product that they build. It makes it hard for them.”

That’s partly why he campaigned against the union’s tentative contract with Fiat Chrysler of America — and why the rest of the membership agreed, defeating the proposal by a resounding margin.

That means the union could go back to the bargaining table with Chrysler, take a break and turn to General Motors or Ford — or mount the auto industry’s first strike in 17 years.

The UAW’s leadership were expected to announce the official results of the vote late Wednesday and outline next steps.