Johnson Controls’ Employees Ratify New UAW Contract

Workers at Johnson Controls Inc.’s battery division in Fullerton and at three other plants ratified a new three-year contract agreement, the United Auto Workers union said Friday.

The new contract, which expires June 20, 1997, covers about 250 workers in Fullerton and an additional 750 in Dallas, Louisville, Ky., and Middletown, Del. The union said the new contract contains improved benefits, maintenance of a cost-of-living allowance in its present form, and protection of wages through signing bonuses and lump-sum payments in each year of the contract, retroactive to June, 1994.

Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, which makes automobile seats and batteries, had considered moving its battery plant in Fullerton as part of a consolidation. But last summer the company decided not to relocate the plant after finding ways to cut energy costs.