General Motors and the UAW reached a deal Thursday, giving hourly employees immediate raises ranging from $3 to $4 an hour — at the automaker’s Ultium Cells joint venture with LG Energy Solution.
Employees will vote on the deal, which amounts to a 25% wage increase, on Sunday. If approved, the increase goes into effect Aug. 28.
The pay raise is being described as an “interim wage increase.” Also noteworthy is that it is retroactive, and active current hourly employees will receive back pay for every hour worked since Dec. 23, 2022. Any current employee who has worked since Dec. 23 can receive payment of $3,000 to $7,000, based on hours worked, the company noted.
“Providing this wage increase is the right thing to do for our team members, all of whom contribute so much to Ultium Cells’ growth and success,” the company noted in a release. “This is just a first step. We continue to bargain in good faith with the UAW to reach a comprehensive contract for our employees, including a final wage scale.”
More to come
UAW President Shawn Fain certainly made it sound like this is just the beginning of changes coming at the Ohio-based battery maker, but it certainly had a different ring to it than the company’s tone about continuing talks.
“After months of public pressure and worker organizing, Ultium was forced to take a first step towards economic justice for the workers who are powering GM’s electric vehicle future,” Fain said in a statement. “When we fight hard, we can win big, and we aren’t done fighting for standard-setting wages and benefits at Ultium and beyond.”
Fain is currently in the midst of negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers on contracts set to expire Sept. 14. While no strike target has been singled out, the union did call for a strike vote to be taken. The rank-and-file responded as Fain hoped with 97% voting to approve a strike: 96% at GM, 98% at Ford and 95% at Stellantis.
“Our members expectations are high because Big Three profits are so high. The Big Three made a combined $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year,” Fain said.
“That’s on top of the quarter-trillion dollars in North American profits they made over the last decade. While Big Three executives and shareholders got rich, UAW members got left behind. Our message to the Big Three is simple: record profits mean record contracts.”
The union says its demands include the elimination of tiered wages and benefits, wage increases to offset inflation and match the generous salary increases of company executives over the last four years, the re-establishment of cost-of-living allowances and defined benefit pensions and retiree healthcare, the right to strike over plant closures, significant increases to current retiree benefits, and more paid time off to be with family.