A four-year contract between the UAW and 52,600 workers at General Motors plants in the U.S. is ratified, effective Monday, the UAW has announced.
DETROIT, MI - A four-year contract between the UAW and 52,600 workers at General Motors plants in the U.S. is ratified, effective Monday, the UAW has announced.
"Following further discussion with GM regarding issues specific to skilled trades members and new agreement to changes that protect core trades classifications and seniority rights, the UAW GM National Council unanimously recommended ratification of the National Agreement to the UAW International Executive Board," the union said Friday evening.
A 55.4 percent majority of UAW-GM workers voted in favor of the new agreement earlier this month, but of that total, 58.3 percent of production workers supported it, while just 40.5 percent of skilled trades workers gave their approval.
The proposed UAW-GM agreement for hourly workers, seen here, says 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.
It's similar to an agreement reached last month with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, although it includes some heftier bonuses.
Upon ratification, workers get $8,000 signing bonuses. There also are 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.
The UAW 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.
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.