General Motors issues record offer to UAW ahead of Thursday's deadline
(CBS DETROIT) - General Motors issued a record offer to the UAW Thursday, hours before contracts are set to expire.
The automaker's Chair & CEO, Mary Barra, announced the offer in a letter to the GM Manufacturing Team, saying they have worked days and nights negotiating since receiving the union's demands.
"We've worked days, nights, and weekends since receiving the UAW's demands," said Barra. "We have been bargaining in good faith to deliver a better package with historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments, recognizing your contributions to our company -- past, present, and future. It addresses what you've told us is most important to you, in spite of the heated rhetoric from UAW leadership."
In addition, Barra says they are working to reach an agreement by tonight.
"We continue to bargain in good faith, but with our contract set to expire at 11:59 p.m., I want to make sure you are completely informed," said Barra. "We know a strong GM is important to all of us. We are working with urgency and have proposed yet another increasingly strong offer with the goal of reaching an agreement tonight. Remember: we had a strike in 2019 and nobody won."
Here's what General Motors' offer includes:
- 20% wage increases over the agreement, with a double-digit- 10% increase in the first year.
- Temporary team member wages increase to $20
- Cost-of-living protection included for maximum wage earners
- In-progression steps to cut in half to four years
- Continuing work for manufacturing and warehousing sites
- No change to premiums, plus a 25% increase to retirement healthcare plan
- $500 to retirees and $1,000 to active employee defined benefit program
- Juneteenth, two weeks of paid parental leave and up to five weeks of vacation
"Let's make new history, not repeat the past," said Barra. "We're focused on the future and our growth strategy. Our innovative attitude has been the fuel that drove the most successful periods in our history -- a history of achievement that attracted so many multi-generational employees to work in our plants, including me."
The contracts are set to expire at 11:59 p.m. tonight, Thursday, Sept. 14. As GM awaits a response to its record offer, the union is still sticking to its demands and has not accepted any of the offers made by the Big Three.
If the strike happens, this will be the first time the union has simultaneously gone on strike against the Detroit automakers.
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