BEHR employees accept contract

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Behr employees voted to accept a new contract that will save 900 jobs in Dayton.

Around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 24, union leaders counted the ballots. In the end, it was 538 for, and 261 against.

Roy Turner, President of Local 775, said that health care was the sticking point.

Until now, Behr employees did not pay anything for health care.
According to Turner, under the new contact, workers will have three health care plans to pick from.

The health care plans will range in cost from $6,500 dollars to $15,000 dollars a year for families.

Turner said that is a large expense, but much more reasonable than the initial offer that workers overwhelmingly rejected.

"If the health care wouldn't have come down and they would have come back with the same plan, I think we would have had the same results we had on the first one," said Turner.

"I think the movement on that was one of the main things that swung all the votes".

The new labor agreement will replace the last contract, that expired in October.