The United Auto Workers union has reportedly reached a tentative agreement with General Motors, which could end six weeks of targeted strikes among American autoworkers. The automaker is the last of the Detroit Three to reach a deal with the union.
The UAW launched targeted strike efforts on September 15. The action marked the first time in the union’s history that it targeted select facilities owned by GM, Ford, and Stellantis at the same time.
The move was intended to put pressure on all three automakers, and appears to have worked. Bloomberg reports that GM has agreed to a contract that is broadly similar to historic deals tentatively signed by Stellantis and Ford, which was the first to reach a deal.
Read: Ford And UAW Reach Tentative Agreement To End Strike
Although neither GM nor the UAW have yet confirmed the deal, or its terms, reports indicate that they will include 25 percent increases to hourly pay, and cost of living allowances. The contract will last four years.
The particulars of the agreement remain to be seen, though. With 300,000 retirees to its name, the impact of improved pensions payouts, for example, could have a more costly impact on GM than it does on either of its Detroit rivals.
The agreement comes after both of its rivals signed agreements to get employees back to work and increased pressure from the union. On October 28, the UAW launched a strike at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, plants.
While the agreement is a positive for both workers and the automaker — whose share prices spiked after the news broke — it must still be ratified by GM’s 46,000 union members. The deal shows all signs of being historically positive for workers, so it seems likely that members will agree to it.
The strikes have taken a toll on the automakers, though. Last week, GM said that the union’s work stoppages cost it $800 million, while Ford said that they cost it $1.3 billion. Sean Fain, the UAW’s president, appears to already have an eye on potential strikes when these contracts expire in four years. He has moved the expiration for the new contracts forward a few months to the end of April 2028. That means that if negotiations deteriorate again, as they did this year, the union would launch strikes on May 1, or May Day, a date strongly associated with the unionization movement in America and around the world.
“We proposed an expiration date [that] allows us to strike on May Day. We invite unions to align their contract expiration dates with our own […] If we’re going to truly take on the billionaire class […] it’s important that we not only strike but strike together” @ShawnFainUAW https://t.co/iXMFVlFNQA pic.twitter.com/SbLnjTtyUz
— Read Reviving the Strike by Joe Burns 🫡 (@MarchOnTheBoss) October 30, 2023