United Auto Workers and GM Agree To Tentative Deal, Ending Strikes

General Motors agreed to a tentative labor contract with the United Auto Workers — the last member of the Detroit Three to do so — after 45 days of unprecedented rolling strikes.

The UAW's GM National Council must now vote on whether to send the agreement to its 46,000 UAW members at GM to ratify the proposal. Shawn Fain, the union's president, said union's national council will meet Friday to vote on the proposed agreement with GM.

The tentative agreement will temporarily put an end to the longest strike at GM in 25 years. When the union last struck the company in 2019 with a 40-day walkout, it took 10 days for the contract to be ratified.

The UAW's roughly 146,000 members at Ford Motor, GM and Stellantis NV initially demanded 40% wage hikes, better retirement benefits, a 32-hour workweek and cost-of-living adjustments.

As the strikes progressed, the union showed a willingness to reduce its demands, especially after automakers publicly protested that they couldn't afford them. GM's deal with the autoworkers closely resembles previously-announced tentative agreements with Stellantis and Ford.

"All three of the Big Three now have a tentative agreement with the UAW," the union said in a statement. "All three agreements break records and better unite our union."

The UAW said GM's deal provides pay raises that are stronger than all raises hikes offered by the automaker in the past 22 years. The company is offering workers a general pay raise of 25% and agreed to restore the cost-of-living adjustment formula it suspended after the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

The UAW added that once the new cost-of-living mechanisms and compounding effects are factored in, the deal would boost the top wage rate by 33%. Starting wages will increase by 70% compounded with COLA, to more than $30 per hour.

Top-earning union workers at GM's plants would earn more than $40 per hour, or more than $80,000 annually, by the end of the four-year contract. The automaker had previously offered the UAW 23% wage increases as well as what the union called "deficient" COLA.

The company also has agreed to kill "divisive" wage tiers at its facilities and reduce the time it takes to earn the highest wage to three years. Workers at GM Component Holdings will receive 89% pay raises once the contract is ratified, while employees at GM Customer Care and Aftersales locations will get 79% wage hikes.

All temporary workers who have been employed by GM for 90 days will become full timers and receive pay raises between 51% and 115% upon ratification. Future temporary workers will be converted to full-time after 90 days of employment, according to the UAW.

Additionally, GM has agreed to improve benefits for current and future retirees, pension benefits and contributions to 401(k) plans, according to the UAW. Current retirees and their surviving spouses will also receive five payments worth $500 each.

The automaker has to include autoworkers at GM’s Subsytems Manufacturing LLC locations under the national contract, as well as electric vehicle battery plant workers at its Ultium Cells locations.

GM currently plans to build three EV battery plants in the U.S. as part of a joint venture with LG Energy Solution, although only Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio, is currently operational. The automaker is also working with Samsung SDI to build a plant in St. Joseph County, Indiana.

"GM is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in the U.S.," GM CEO Mary Barra said.

More than 45,000 autoworkers were striking at dozens of facilities across the three companies before Ford's deal with the UAW began sending its 16,600 picketing members on Oct. 24.

More than 17,000 workers were striking against four of GM's assembly complexes — including its "moneymaker" Arlington Assembly Plant in Texas — and 18 parts distribution centers across the U.S. On Saturday, the UAW escalated its strike actions against the automaker to include GM's $3.6 billion manufacturing plant in Tennessee — which is also the company's largest plant in North America — even as the union announced its agreement with Stellantis.

The potential end of the strikes at GM will send the UAW members back to work and help jumpstart production at the automaker's facilities. The company last week said it has lost $800 million in pre-tax earnings from the UAW's strikes.

Additionally, Ford's CFO John Lawler told investors the labor stoppages have cost his company $1.3 billion and 800,000 units of production. Labor costs will increase by roughly $850 to $900 per vehicle due to the tentative deal with the UAW, Lawler added.

The union's strikes have cost the automotive industry and consumers $9.3 billion in economic losses across five weeks of walkouts, according to the East Lansing, Michigan-based Anderson Economic Group.