Negotiators at General Motors will head to the bargaining table for a new, four-year contract with counterparts for the UAW.
DETROIT, MI - The UAW confirmed Thursday that it is now negotiating with GM on behalf of its more than 50,000 workers at the company, though a time frame for when the two parties hope to reach a new contract agreement is not immediately known.
The UAW also announced Thursday its workers had ratified a labor agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Negotiations with Ford Motor Co. will follow. UAW workers at Ford and GM are working on extended contracts from 2011 while the new ones are hammered out.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, 40,000 UAW members working for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles voted by a 77 percent majority to approve their latest contract.
Earlier this month, those same workers voted 65 percent against a proposed agreement that was reached by the two sides Sept. 15. Workers said that the first proposed contract did not do enough to bridge an apparent wage gap.
The new agreement further narrows the two-tier wage gap between entry-level and legacy workers, and says all current, entry-level workers will be paid "traditional wages" within eight years.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.