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General Motors has agreed to include battery manufacturing plants in its overall contract with the United Auto Workers union, the union said, to meet a critical need for workers anxious about the industry’s shift to electric vehicles.
UAW President Shawn Fain’s announcement comes as the union’s strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis enters its fourth week, halting operations at some Detroit plants owned by the Big Three automakers. Dilemma.
The UAW has been pushing for higher wages and other concessions in a new deal after the previous one expired last month. It is also seeking to expand contract protections at factories that will supply many of the batteries for the wave of electric vehicles hitting the market in the next few years.
“We’ve been told for months that this isn’t possible,” Fein said during Friday’s broadcast. “We were told the future of electric vehicles had to be a race to the bottom, and now we’re calling their bluff.”
Fein, who was wearing an “Eat the Rich” T-shirt, said the union had been planning to close the General Motors assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, and “this threat resulted in a transformative victory.” ”.
GM said: “Negotiations remain ongoing and we will continue to work to find solutions to resolve outstanding issues. Our goal remains to reach an agreement that rewards our employees and positions GM for future success.”
Detroit automakers have been making batteries in the U.S. through joint ventures with Korean battery makers that hire non-union labor at lower wages. They objected to the inclusion of the joint venture in the master agreement with the union.
GM has a battery joint venture in Lordstown, Ohio, and three others are planned or under construction. The Lordstown plant voted to unionize in December, but adding the battery plant to the master agreement eliminates the need for the union to win plant-by-plant elections, greatly simplifying the process for workers to unionize.
A week ago, Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said the UAW was “withholding” an agreement on wages and working conditions because it would not add battery plant production to Ford’s master agreement with the union. Make concessions on demands.
Fein said GM has been “behind” Ford and Strantis in its proposals to the unions, but “they are leapfrogging their opponents on a just transition.”
“Our strikes are working. But we’re not there yet.”
The strike began with about 13,000 workers at assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, then spread to parts warehouses and other assembly plants. About 25,000 of the 146,000 workers at the Detroit automaker represented by the UAW are currently on strike. The UAW did not announce plans this week to expand the strike to new locations.
The continued nature of the strike has brought chaos to each automaker’s highly connected operations. The companies have furloughed nearly 4,000 non-striking workers so far, saying shutdowns elsewhere are hampering normal production.
GM said earlier this week that the strike had cost it $200 million so far.
The union is demanding a 36% wage increase over four years, down from an initial demand of 46%, and for all workers to be paid the same wage scale. Real wages for auto workers fell by about 20% in the five years to 2022, largely due to pay cuts at Ford.
Kristin Dziczek, a policy adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said wages for UAW temporary workers start at $16.67 an hour and top out at $32.32 an hour. Based on 40 hours per week, annual earnings range from $35,000 to $67,000.
Workers can earn more through overtime or profit sharing, which limits how much companies can pay workers during hard economic times. Dziczek estimated labor costs per employee, including all compensation, statutory costs and retiree benefits, at $66 an hour.
Ford laid out a proposal Tuesday that would include giving workers a pay raise of “more than 20%,” reinstating cost-of-living adjustments and shortening the four years it currently takes to reach the top wage. GM made a counteroffer to the union on Thursday, while Stellantis’ last offer was on Sept. 29, but neither automaker provided details.
Svlook
