GM reaches tentative deal with UAW with record wage and benefit hikes
GENERAL Motors and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union have reached a tentative contract agreement with record wage and benefit hikes, according to sources.
Details of the agreement with GM, which was the last holdout of the Detroit Three, were not immediately available.
The Detroit Three refers to the three largest car manufacturers in the US: General Motors, Stellantis, formerly known as Fiat Chrysler, and Ford Motor Company.
The accord follows deals reached in the last few days by the union with Ford Motor and Chrysler owner Stellantis in what experts say stand as significant victories for auto laborers after years of stagnant wages and painful concessions made by the union following the 2008 financial crisis.
Nearly 50,000 workers out of nearly 150,000 union members at the Detroit Three eventually joined a series of walkouts that began on Sept 15. The UAW’s strategy of escalating, targeted strikes cost the Detroit Three and suppliers billions of dollars over more than 40 days.
The GM workers will return to work after an official announcement of the agreement, two sources said.
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A GM spokesperson declined comment.
Talks at GM stalled on Saturday because of issues such as pension and how fast temporary workers would get permanent work, sources have said.
At about 5 PM ET on Saturday, UAW workers at the Spring Hill complex began walking off the job, even as UAW President Shawn Fain and the UAW’s top negotiator at Stellantis, Rich Boyer, were preparing to announce terms of the contract at the Chrysler parent.
The three tentative deals are a win for the precedent-breaking strategy that Fain and top union officials orchestrated to achieve their goal of securing record-setting pay and benefit gains.
For the first time, the UAW bargained with all three automakers at the same time, using the threat of strikes at key factories to accelerate a bidding war among the companies to avoid a new walkout.
Fain kept most UAW members working in order to hoard strike funds. He expanded the strike slowly, when he decided that progress in talks had stalled.
Fain repeatedly accused the Detroit Three automakers of enriching executives and investors, while neglecting workers and said the UAW’s success would help blue collar workers throughout the country. REUTERS
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