General Motors and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative agreement, joining Ford and Stellantis, effectively ending the union’s historic six-week strike against Detroit’s big three automakers.
The agreement is said to be similar to the deals struck by the union and Ford on Thursday and Stellantis over the weekend.
Elements of the deal include a 25 per cent hourly pay raise plus cost-of-living allowances over the more-than-four-year contract, according to Bloomberg.
UAW President Shawn Fain said they are now eyeing up organizing at nonunion automakers such as Toyota, Honda and Tesla.
Spring Hill General Motors workers picket outside of the plant in Tennessee. UAW escalated strikes against holdout GM over the weekend
On Saturday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union escalated their walkouts at General Motors after the automaker became the lone holdout in reaching a deal.
Talks had stalled because of issues such as pension and how fast temporary workers would get permanent work, sources have said.
Nearly 4,000 workers at the company’s Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, GM’s largest in North America, joined the almost 14,000 already striking at GM factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.
The Detroit automakers argued that the UAW’s demands would significantly raise costs and put them at a disadvantage compared with EV leader Tesla and foreign brands such as Toyota Motor, which are nonunionized.
The UAW, in a series of social media posts prior to the GM announcement, said it is committed to expanding, saying it wants negotiations in 2028 to be between the union and the ‘Big Five or Big Six.’
‘One of our biggest goals coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never organized before,’ Fain said in a video on Sunday.
‘When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with the Big Three. It will be the Big Five or Big Six.’
UAW members strike outside a Texas GM plant. On Monday, sources said GM and UAW have reached a tentative agreement
Strikers picket at the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex on Wednesday, days before the automaker reached a tentative agreement with the union
Both GM and Ford recently said they would slow their EV buildouts as demand for these cars has slowed.
When announcing the deal with Ford, UAW president Shawn Fain said that Ford put 50 percent more money on the table than it did before the strike began over one month ago.
UAW Vice President Chuck Browning added workers will get a 25 percent general wage increase, plus cost of living raises that will put the pay increase over 30 percent, to above $40 per hour for top-scale assembly plant workers by the end of the contract.
The union said the tentative contract with Stellantis includes a 25 percent raise in base wages by 2028.
As well as, cost of living adjustments that will cumulatively raise the top wage by 33 percent, to over $42 an hour.
The GM workers will return to work after an official announcement of the agreement, two sources said.
UAW President Shawn Fain (left) called for the historic strike six weeks ago and has since announced agreements with Ford and Stellantis
Striking United Auto Worker union members picket outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant on Wednesday. Ford and the UAW agreed to include record wage and benefit hikes
‘We look forward to welcoming our 43,000 employees back to work and resuming operations to serve our customers,’ Stellantis North America chief operating officer Mark Stewart.
Nearly 50,000 workers out of nearly 150,000 union members at the Detroit Three eventually joined a series of walkouts that began on September 15.
The UAW’s strategy of escalating, targeted strikes cost the Detroit Three and suppliers billions of dollars over more than 40 days.
Fain must now get the contracts ratified by rank-and-file UAW members. That process began on Sunday as Fain met with leaders of Ford-UAW local unions.
Last week, General Motors said the strike cost about $200 million per week in lost profits.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday lauded the tentative agreement. ‘I think it’s great,’ Biden, who has touted himself as pro-union and backed the UAW, said when asked about the reported deal.