Allison Transmission strike potentially averted with tentative agreement
The proposed four-year contract has a starting wage of $20 an hour and bonuses adding up to $7,000.
The proposed four-year contract has a starting wage of $20 an hour and bonuses adding up to $7,000.
The outcome of the GM vote is uncertain, despite the UAW’s celebrations of victories last month on many key demands that led to six weeks of targeted walkouts against GM, Ford and Stellantis.
At nearly four months, it was by far the longest strike ever for film and television actors.
Local union leaders from across the country at Jeep maker Stellantis voted unanimously on Thursday to send the contract to members for a vote. General Motors local leaders will meet on Friday.
The United Auto Workers provided some information on the deals, including a detailed explanation of the agreement it reached with Ford. The agreement is expected to become the model for later settlements with GM and Stellantis.
The contract with General Motors is similar to those reached by Ford and Stellantis, but there are some differences.
GM is likely to be the next company to settle because it has agreed to pull new electric vehicle battery factories into the UAW’s national contract, which essentially unionizes them.
The UAW’s move further escalates a labor dispute that’s in its sixth week and now has about 46,000 union workers off the job.
About 40,800 workers are now on strike against all three automakers. The strikes, now in their sixth week, cover seven assembly plants and 38 parts warehouses.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that while Detroit’s automakers have increased their wage and benefit offers, he believes the union can gain more if it holds out longer in contract talks.
Union leaders want promises from the Big Three automakers that their wave of new electric vehicle battery plants will fall under the UAW’s contract and that workers at those plants will make UAW assembly wages of $32 an hour.
UAW President Shawn Fain told workers in a live video appearance that the companies started gaming the system, waiting until Fridays to make progress in bargaining.
The apparently widening labor rift indicates that Ford and the UAW may be in for a lengthy strike that could cost the company and workers billions of dollars.
The UAW contends that the layoffs are unjustified and were imposed as part of the companies’ pressure campaign to persuade union members to accept less favorable terms in negotiations with automakers.
With the UAW strike now in its fourth week, EVs and their potential impact on job security have become central to union negotiations with the automakers.
The United Auto Workers union will announce Friday afternoon whether it will widen its strike to additional factories at Detroit’s biggest vehicle manufacturers after another week of tense contract bargaining.
In just a few months, Shawn Fain has gone from obscurity to one of the most visible leaders in America, demanding that his workers get more concessions from the Big Three automakers after two decades of givebacks.
The report of progress raises the possibility that the union might decide not to expand its walkouts at one or more of the companies.
Union President Shawn Fain told workers on a video appearance Friday that negotiations haven’t broken down but Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress.
The United Auto Workers union said it will broaden its strike at noon Friday unless there is last-minute progress in contract talks with Detroit’s Big Three automakers.