Striking auto workers reach tentative deal with General Motors

General Motors has become the final member of the Big Three to reach a deal with United Auto Workers

General Motors has reached a tentative agreement with United Auto Workers, giving the union an increased pay package, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

GM or UAW have yet to confirm the deal, which reportedly has secured veteran workers a 33 per cent increase in their pay, the sources told CNN.

General Motors was the last of the Big Three companies (also known as the ‘Detroit Three’) to reach an agreement with the union after around 46,000 workers over the three companies walked out for better pay.

This deal comes after agreements made by the other Big Three members, Ford and Chrysler owner Stellantis, in the last few days.

It has also been predicted that the General Motors deal will be similar to their agreement pacts with the other companies, including an immediate 11 per cent rise in wages when ratification of the deal is concluded for top plant workers, an additional pay hike of 14 per cent during their agreed four-and-a-half year contract, as well as the comeback of the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which protects workers from rising prices, according to CNN .

All of this combined could raise their pay by more than 30 per cent during the deal’s contract, which will end on 30 April 2028.

UAW leaders agreed to a deal with Ford on Wednesday, which allegedly includes a 30 per cent pay rise for full-time workers and could more than double the pay of others, Reuters reports.

The union then announced their deal with Stellantis on Saturday, which also includes a 33 per cent wage rise for the top assembly plant workers.

Deals at Ford and Stellantis also provided improved job security, as the auto companies have announced their desire to increase electric vehicles over gas-powered ones, putting jobs at risk.

Shawn Fain, the president of UAW, said a previous deal of this kind was already made at General Motors; although not clear, the deal reportedly stated that the company must have workers at a series of electric vehicle battery plants.

The deals will now be ratified by the union before they are put in place (AP)

General Motors was the final Big Three company to reach a deal with the union, prompting the strike to stretch to a fourth assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, where 4,000 workers walked out.

This final application of pressure worked, leading to the final deal being made and the end of an unprecedented six-week strike over the country.

About 46,000 out of around 146,000 UAW workers across the Big Three joined in the strikes that started on 15 September, making it the longest auto strike in 25 years.

The strikes also gained notoriety in September when President Joe Biden became the first in-office President to join a picket line when he visited the strike outside of a General Motors site in Michigan.

The walk-outs are estimated to have cost the companies and suppliers billions of dollars during the strike.

Now all deals have been tentatively reached, the contracts have now started to be ratified by rank-and-file UAW members in order for them to be put in place.

This will conclude the historical set of strikes and will give closure to years of stationary wages and ungenerous contract benefits, according to the demands of UAW.