TOLEDO -- General Motors Corp. said United Auto Workers members at an engine foundry in Ohio approved their contract, the 13th local group to ratify an accord with the world's largest automaker.
The vote brings Detroit-based GM a step closer to wrapping up agreements with hourly workers at 77 locations after the union ratified a national contract in October.
GM is working to prevent local strikes such as one called Monday that idled a Kansas plant making the Chevrolet Malibu.
The Ohio accord won 63 per cent support from UAW Local 211, GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel said in an interview. The contract sets work rules for about 1,500 UAW members in Defiance, 95 kilometres southwest of Toledo.
