DETROIT – The president of the United Auto Workers union said Thursday that General Motors’ latest counter proposal is “insulting,” and that the automaker is “wasting” union members’ time with just one week left before the current contract expires.
After the union called out both GM and Stellantis for allegedly waiting a long time to respond to demands provided weeks ago, GM on Thursday, Sept. 7, announced its counter proposal to the UAW. The counter proposal, which offers a 10% wage increase for most employees, more paid holidays, and lump sum and inflation payments, touches on some of the UAW’s aggressive demands, but doesn’t exactly meet them.
The union, led by new President Shawn Fain, has an audacious list of demands for this year’s contracts, including a 46% wage increase, an end to wage tiers, cost of living adjustments, and pension restoration. Fain said Thursday afternoon that GM’s counter to those demands is “insulting” and “doesn’t come close to an equitable agreement for America’s autoworkers.”
“Our offer includes well-deserved wage improvements that far exceed the 2019 agreement ...” GM said, in part, on Thursday. “We still have work to do, but we wanted to make this offer to show our good faith efforts to keep the process moving.”
Just last week, Fain also shot down Ford Motor Company’s counter proposal, which offered a 9% general wage increase that included an “overall cut in real wages due to inflation,” according to the UAW president.
“Ford’s wage proposals not only fail to meet our needs, it insults our very worth,” Fain said last week.
Since talks began in July, Fain has maintained an unwavering position in favor of improved pay, benefits and work-life balance for UAW workers -- though he has still expressed desire to strike a deal with Detroit’s Big Three automakers before the Sept. 14 contract deadline. GM, Ford and Stellantis have also publicly expressed their desire to bargain in good faith, but Fain argues the companies have essentially waited “until the last eight days to start talking.”
“We’ve told all three of the companies up front, before this started, we weren’t going to do things the way we’ve always done them; that Sept. 14 is a deadline, not a reference point,” Fain said Wednesday night on CNBC. “... They chose to follow the same path they have in the past, which is delay, delay, delay.”
Last week, Fain filed unfair labor practice complaints against GM and Stellantis, accusing the companies of willfully refusing to bargain in good faith, and intentionally delaying the negotiation process. Both companies called the allegations surprising and untrue.
Stellantis said Wednesday that it will provide a counter proposal to the UAW’s economic demands by the end of the week.
The threat of an auto worker strike grew before negotiations even began, and has only intensified as tensions rise between the UAW and the Big Three with the contract deadline quickly approaching. Fain said Wednesday that the UAW’s goal is not to strike, and that he wants to reach a deal with all three automakers before 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14 -- but that seems increasingly unlikely amid the apparent conflict.
Nearly all of the 146,000 auto workers represented by the UAW have voted to authorize a strike, should union leaders decide to call one. Fain has not identified a target company among the Big Three for a potential strike, and instead declared that the union will strike at any of the three companies that hasn’t reached a deal by the contract deadline.
If a national UAW strike is called against GM, Ford and Stellantis simultaneously, it will be the first time in history.
Read: UAW last went on strike in 2019: Here’s what happened, how things have changed since