As the United Auto Workers strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers continues, General Motors issued a statement breaking down highlights of its latest contract offer.
The company’s latest offer includes a 20% pay increase for most employees over the lifetime of the agreement, no change to healthcare premiums, Juneteenth as a holiday and two weeks of paid parental leave along with up to five weeks of vacation.
The offer also includes the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments to paychecks for team members at max wages starting at year two.
It would also increase temporary worker wages to $20 an hour, improve job security for current manufacturing team workers and allow for faster employee progression, with progression steps cut in half to four years. All full-time temporary workers with one year of employment would be immediately converted to step 1 in-progression employees when the deal is ratified.
The offer also included changes to retirement benefits, including increasing the company’s retirement contributions from 6.4% to 8% for active in-progression employees, increasing healthcare contributions from $1 to $1.25 per hour worked for active in-progression employees, as well as a $1,000 payment to active traditional employees’ defined contribution plan.
A UAW spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain said GM’s committed to placing its battery manufacturers under the master agreement with the union. He called the agreement a “transformative win,” which averted an expansion of the strike to include the company’s General Motors Sport Utility Vehicle plant in Arlington, Texas.
However, GM did not mention this agreement in its breakdown of the offer.
While the union has yet to reach a tentative agreement with any of the Detroit Three, significant progress has been made in the bargaining process, Fain said.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during a UAW rally in Detroit on Friday. | Ken Coleman
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told the Advance on Monday that she has been in constant contact with the UAW and the Detroit Three.
“The prospect of a prolonged strike I think is something that is really very concerning. I know that we are already feeling the economic pain of this,” Whitmer said after an event on reproductive rights legislation in Grand Rapids.
“I also know that this UAW has gotten some unprecedented terms already on the table. It’s a big victory for their workers and I’m hopeful that we can get this completed soon so we can get back to work because we got a lot of good stuff happening in Michigan and I want to put my foot on the accelerator. And once the strike resolves, I think we’re going to be able to get a lot of great things done, but time is of the essence,” Whitmer said.
Anna Liz Nichols contributed to this report.
authored by Kyle Davidson
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