2023-10-30 15:27:33
The wave of strikes by American auto companies ends with General Motors’ agreement with its workers
General Motors became the latest Detroit automaker to reach a new tentative labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union on Monday, ending a strike that has lasted more than six weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the talks.
This latest agreement comes after the initial agreements reached last week between Ford and Chrysler, a subsidiary of the parent company Stellantis, and is expected to end the union’s historic strike, which sent more than 45,000 workers to picket lines in many factories. American and dozens of spare parts distribution centers.
The sources told the newspaper that the UAW union plans to officially announce the details of the initial agreement on Monday.
On Saturday night, the union federation expanded its strike at General Motors to a factory in Tennessee, a surprising move following what appeared to be an intensification of negotiations between the two sides over the past few days.
The temporary agreements at all three auto companies must be approved by union-represented workers in ratification votes expected in the coming weeks.
The terms of GM’s agreement with workers could not immediately be determined, but they are expected to be broadly in line with proposed contract agreements among its crosstown competitors.
The end of the strike against automakers should provide some relief, but labor strikes have already led to a decline in profits in recent weeks, and the new agreements are expected to result in companies bearing much higher labor costs.
Some analysts expect these labor agreements to increase spending on wages and benefits for companies’ unionized workforces to between $87 and $90 per hour per worker, up from a level now within the 1960s.
This number is much higher than that of Tesla and foreign automakers whose American factories are not unionized.
At Ford, the new union contract, if approved by members, will add between $850 and $900 to labor expenses per vehicle, according to what the company said last Thursday.
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