In the proposed deal, workers would have traditional wages within eight years.
DETROIT, MI - In a proposed agreement with General Motors, the UAW touts "significant gains" for workers, though only voting will tell if the rank-and-file agrees with this sentiment.
In the proposed deal, workers would have traditional wages within eight years.
It's similar to an agreement reached with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, but the deal with GM, which the some 52,600 UAW workers are set to vote on in the days ahead, also includes some heftier bonuses.
The proposed agreement with hourly workers, seen here, says that any workers with less than a year of experience and making $17 an hour can reach "traditional wages," or $29 an hour, by Sept. 19, 2022.
Bridging the wage gap between entry-level workers and legacy workers hired on either side of 2007, when the auto industry went into a severe downturn, has been the stated goal of the UAW's top officials heading into the talks, with a backdrop of more profitable and financially healthy Detroit Three automakers.
"The biggest challenge for your bargaining committee was to balance the competing demands of higher wages and job security," UAW President Dennis Williams said Thursday in a message to members. Williams added that the proposed agreement eliminates income inequality while also giving job security.
Like the agreement with FCA, the tentative deal with GM includes a moratorium on outsourcing that's effective for the four-year length of the 2015 contract. The UAW describes the moratorium language as something that "protects our members from company-mandated attempts to outsource existing work and strengthens the union's ability to ensure job security."
The union also touted new jobs, products and an additional $1.9 billion in new investments by GM as part of the agreement. The new investments will create and/or add more than 3,300 jobs at 12 sites, the UAW said.
Upon ratification, workers would get $8,000 signing bonuses - well above the $3,000 and $4,000 bonuses promised to FCA workers.
There are also annual lump sum performance and quality bonuses, and a $60,000 bonus for up to 4,000 eligible production employees who retire between Feb. 1 and May 1, 2016.
The deal also includes a 3 percent wage increase for traditional members for the first year, and a 4 percent lump sum raise in the second year, followed by a 3 percent wage rise in the third year and a 4 percent lump sum raise for the last year of the contract.
Double-time on Sunday has been restored, and the UAW won additional holidays, including a four-day Easter weekend.
On the UAW International's Facebook page, several workers appeared to balk at the deal.
Another member said,
"There are absolutely no gains other than the 3% and 4% for active skilled trades, and I have been reading actual language not just the highlight which are nothing but fluff in the trades pages, this is looking like the 1st contract I will vote no on in 20 years... it appears there was no GM journeyman on the negotiation team I guess"
Workers will vote over the next few weeks.
Earlier this month, the some 40,000 UAW members working for FCA voted by a 77 percent majority to approve a new, four-year contract.
That was after the UAW-FCA workers first rejected by 65 percent against a proposed agreement that was reached by the two sides Sept. 15. Of the previous agreement, workers said it did not do enough to bridge a wage gap between entry-level workers hired after 2007, and the legacy workers hired before then.
UAW workers at Ford Motor Co. still need to reach, and vote on, a new four-year agreement. The UAW's agreement with FCA was meant to act as a broad guide for negotiating new contracts with GM and Ford.
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.