DETROIT – General Motors has agreed to include electric vehicle battery manufacturing in their national contract with the United Auto Workers union, officials announced Friday, marking a huge win for autoworkers concerned that the industry’s shift away from traditional vehicles could leave them behind.
The UAW has made “significant progress” in its negotiations with Detroit’s Big Three automakers this week, especially with GM, which has been lagging behind in bargaining in recent weeks, according to union president Shawn Fain. In a Friday update addressing union members, Fain said that the UAW was preparing to announce a strike at GM’s Arlington Assembly plant in Texas -- the company’s “largest money maker” -- when the carmaker came forward and agreed to include EV manufacturing in the contract.
As the automotive industry makes a massive and expensive shift to EV production, autoworkers were concerned about job security, since the vehicles require less people to make them -- though those workers require more thorough training. On Friday, Oct. 6, Fain said that GM’s agreement to intertwine EV production with the UAW changes the “future of the union and the industry.”
Unlike the last two weekly updates provided by Fain, the UAW did not announce any additional strike locations on Friday. The union has been targeting strikes at increasingly valuable locations in hopes of creating leverage with the companies. So far, about 25,000 of the UAW’s 146,000 autoworkers were striking at 43 locations throughout the U.S.
Instead, Fain displayed an air of positivity in his live social media update, saying negotiations have been moving in the right direction with GM, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis. An agreement has not yet been reached with any of the three companies, but the carmakers have moved closer to the union’s demands as talks, and the historic strike, continue.
Leading up to Friday, each of the automakers had made several offers to the union: GM made six offers and Ford made seven, while the exact number proposed by Stellantis wasn’t clear. All three companies had upped their offers on wage increases, with each of them proposing around 20% wage increases for autoworkers, according to the latest offer updates. The UAW was initially seeking a more than 40% wage increase, and then lowered that demand to 36%.
In GM’s fifth offer made on Sept. 21, the company reportedly had not agreed to restore a cost of living allowance or to end wage tiers, two of the union’s most prominent demands. Fain said Friday that GM is not far behind the other two carmakers when it comes to COLA.
Ford, on the other hand, did agree to restore COLA and eliminate wage tiers in their seventh offer that was made this week. Stellantis reportedly agreed to restore COLA if inflation exceeds 3%, and to eliminate wage tiers in their parts servicing and customer care division.
Taking a different approach this year, the UAW has been negotiating separately and simultaneously with each of the automakers, rather than practicing pattern bargaining like union leaders have done in previous years. Under the leadership of Fain, who was elected earlier this year, the UAW has pushed more aggressively and publicly for better pay, benefits and work-life balance for autoworkers, arguing the companies can afford it.
The UAW says the Big Three automakers have amassed a combined total of $21 billion in profit in the first half of 2023, and a combined $250 billion in American profits in the last 10 years. The union argues those “record” profits made in the years after the financial crisis should translate to better compensation for autoworkers, who they say made sacrifices to help the companies stay afloat then.
As the industry rebounds following pandemic-related issues, the automakers say those major profits are required for their massive investments in the shift to electric vehicles, which is being promoted by elected officials in Michigan and nationwide. The carmakers say they are looking to reach an agreement that is sustainable amid such investments.
Though progress was being made, the UAW’s first-ever simultaneous strike against each of the Big Three carried on Friday, and was expected to last as long as the union thought necessary. Fain reiterated that point on Friday, saying that if talks don’t progress and if automakers want to avoid more strikes, “they’ll have to pony up.”
The union has about $825 million in its strike fund before the strike began on Sept. 15. That money helps pay members on the picket line while they’re not working. By targeting strikes at specific auto facilities rather than striking everywhere at once, the union hopes to stretch that fund as far as it can.
Before GM proposed the EV agreement on Friday, the company recently secured a $6 billion line of credit in case the strike dragged on “for months,” officials said.
Workers on the picket line at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne told Local 4 on Wednesday night that they are hopeful about the new offer, but they think they will be there for a while.
“We’ve never been in this situation before, so we don’t really know what tomorrow is going to bring,” said Sue Murphy, a 27-year Ford veteran. “We’re fighting for the next generation either way. So, it’s not about, ‘Do we have a choice?’ We don’t have a choice. We’re out here for the long haul, whether we like it or not.”