DETROIT, Oct. 26 (UPI) — General Motors and the United Auto Workers announced a tentative agreement on a four-year labor contract minutes before an old contract ended.
The agreement averts, for the moment, the possibility of a strike.
The UAW National GM Council, composed of union leaders from locals throughout the country, are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Detroit to hear details of the agreement, after which the 52,600 union members employed by GM will be able to vote on it.
An initial vote on a contract between the union and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV earlier this mont, was rejected by 40,000 Chrysler workers. A second vote passed after higher wages and a stronger investment commitment were agreed to by Fiat Chrysler.
The contract between GM and the UAW, announced late Sunday, is expected to use the Fiat Chrysler contract — in which all workers can eventually receive top pay and a two-tier pay scale is eliminated — as a pattern. Matters including lump-sum signing and performance bonuses for union workers, profit sharing, decisions of where vehicles will be assembled and possible increases in retirees’ benefits have yet to be announced. Since GM is a larger and more profitable company than Fiat Chrysler, payouts and benefits are expected to be greater.
“The new UAW-GM national agreement is good for employees and the business,” said a statement from Kathy Clegg, GM’s labor and manufacturing chief Cathy Clegg. “We developed constructive solutions that benefit employees and provide flexibility for the company to respond to the needs of the marketplace.”
In recent months GM outlined plans for $5.4 billion in investments to expand its U.S. plants, showing a commitment to American workers, including those in the UAW. The new contract will likely explain those plans in greater detail, as well as prevent a work stoppage which could drain up to $1.2 billion per week in revenue from the company.
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