DETROIT – General Motors has named a new UAW labor negotiator as long-time labor boss Scott Sandefur moves to a new role as he prepares to retire later this year.
Doneen McDowell, 50, replaced Sandefur, 58, as vice president of General Motors North America Labor Relations effective Monday.
McDowell is currently the executive director for manufacturing SUV and Car Group. Sandefur will take over a new role as vice president of Manufacturing Workforce Strategy, until he retires.
McDowell is the second woman to lead GM labor relations. Diana Tremblay was the first to do so from 2006 through 2009. She negotiated the historic 2007 contract that created the VEBA, which is aUAW managed hourly retiree health care fund.
UAW's top GM negotiator, Terry Dittes, said Sandefur was a man of "integrity."
“We want to wish Scott Sandefur the best of luck in his new role and his retirement in 2021," Dittes, vice president and director of the UAW's General Motors Department, said in a statement. "Scott is a man of integrity and credibility. We saw issues between G.M. and the UAW differently many times while working together. During those time of disagreements, he did not compromise his values or credibility while performing his duties."
McDowell started working as an EDS contract industrial engineer at Lordstown Assembly Plant in 1993. Four years later, she joined GM in the Metal Fabrication Division Industrial Engineering Group, GM said in a statement. Over the next 20 years, she worked in multiple factories in several functions including supply chain and engineering and operations. She’s held leadership jobs in assembly, stamping and propulsion.
“Doneen’s passion for employee engagement, her commitment to our GM behaviors, as well as her constant drive to deliver business results will position her well to lead the Labor Relations team as we help transform and prepare for GM’s all-electric future,” said Phil Kienle, GM North America vice president of Manufacturing and Labor Relations.
Sandefur joined GM in 1986 and he has held various manufacturing, labor relations and human resources positions with increasing responsibility over the years in various GM operations. Those include Packard Electric, Saginaw Metal Castings and Arlington Assembly in Texas where GM makes its full-sized SUVs. He has been GM's lead negotiator with the union.
“Scott has been instrumental in the success of a dozen national negotiations and numerous local and special negotiations with GM’s many unions,” Kienle said.
In the fall of 2019, some 48,000 UAW members went on a 40-day strike against GM, in part over the automaker's decision to close four plants in the United States. Dittes sat across from Sandefur when the two negotiated to save Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, now called Factory ZERO, from closure. GM is investing $2.2 billion to retool that plant to make all-electric vehicles starting with the 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup later this year.
In his new role, Sandefur will work on a way to boost the contributions of human relations and labor professionals in the plants. He will also head projects, such as the We Are GM experience. That's an internal program aimed to teach GM employees about the company's business strategy and long-term goals.
