Workers at GM's Nexteer unit approve new concessions

DETROIT -- The nearly 2,100 hourly workers at General Motors Co.'s Nexteer Automotive steering plant in Saginaw, Mich., reversed course Tuesday and approved concessions, paving the way for the sale of Nexteer.

GM officials had told Nexteer this month that the rejection of wage and other concessions previously had jeopardized the division's prospective sale to one of two interested suitors.

The latest concessions passed by 73 percent -- with 1,965 workers casting ballots, according to a clerk at UAW Local 699, the local that represents Nexteer hourly workers in Saginaw.

The local called a re-vote after a petition drive by plant workers. The earlier contract failed by a 3-1 margin. To sweeten the five-year contract, GM added health care coverage for the families of new hires instead of just single worker coverage that was called for in the earlier agreement.

GM placed the business up for sale last autumn when it reacquired the Nexteer plant and four unrelated Delphi Corp. plants in the United States to allow Delphi to emerge from four years of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Nexteer is profitable, according to a GM spokeswoman.

The division, which also operates plants outside the United States, posted global revenue of about $1.6 billion in 2009.