Posted on 10/16/2019 9:28:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
Key Points
The deal is likely about two weeks away from being finalized. It still needs approval from local union leaders and GM’s 48,000 UAW members, who’ve been on strike since Sept. 16. The monthlong work stoppage is the UAW’s longest strike against GM since 1970.
DETROIT — General Motors and union leaders have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract that could end the United Auto Workers’ monthlong strike against the automaker, the UAW said Wednesday.
Details of the proposed deal were not immediately available. However, the union’s roughly 48,000 members with GM are expected to receive raises and bonuses as part of the accord.
The company’s shares jumped by about 2.5% in morning trading. The stock of crosstown rival Ford Motor was up by less than 1%, by comparison.
Based on previous proposals, the company also will invest at least $7 billion to $7.7 billion in its manufacturing operations and add thousands of new hourly union jobs during the next four years. The company also previously agreed to maintain its gold standard health insurance, which requires employees to cover roughly 3% of their total costs.
“The number one priority of the national negotiation team has been to secure a strong and fair contract that our members deserve,” UAW Vice President Terry Dittes, director of the UAW GM department, said in a statement. The UAW’s national negotiating team is recommending that union members take the deal.
Dittes said he is refraining from discussing details until local union leaders can meet in Detroit on Thursday to review the proposed tentative agreement.
GM confirmed the proposed deal and said details of the agreement “will be provided at the appropriate time.”
The deal is likely about two weeks away from being finalized by rank-and-file union members. It still needs approval from local union leaders, who will vote whether to approve the deal during a private meeting Thursday in Detroit. The local leaders will also decide whether workers will remain on picket lines or return to work during the voting process.
If the local UAW leaders approve the proposed contract, GM’s unionized workforce must then vote on it. The new contract, if ratified by members, will be used as a template by the union for negotiations with Ford and Fiat Chrysler.
While the tentative agreement could end the strike against GM, negotiators aren’t likely breathing sighs of relief just yet. Ratification of leadership-approved tentative agreements has traditionally been a guarantee; however, workers with Fiat Chrysler four years ago rejected an initial deal, sending negotiators back to the table.
Ahead of a deal being reached this year, industry experts cautioned the ratification of any agreement could be challenging amid a widening federal probe into corruption at the UAW’s highest ranks involving bribery, kickbacks and embezzlement of union funds.
“The federal investigation swirling around the contract makes getting that contract ratified much more difficult,” said Art Wheaton, a labor professor at the Worker Institute at Cornell University. “It is not in the company’s interest to have UAW’s leadership not be able to deliver a ratified contract.”
Former Ford CEO Mark Fields last month said the widening corruption probe will make it harder for union leaders to get their members to approve any potential new labor deals with the Detroit automakers.
“When you reach a tentative deal, the [companies] are relying on the union leadership to sell that to their rank and file,” Fields said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “So it doesn’t weaken the UAW’s negotiating power, but what it does do is weaken the loyalty and the trust that the rank and file have in the leadership.”
About 48,000 UAW members have been picketing outside GM’s U.S. facilities since Sept. 16.
The work stoppage has rippled throughout the automaker’s North American operations, causing thousands of additional layoffs. Wall Street analysts estimate GM is losing roughly $50 million to $100 million per day in lost production.
It also has contributed to substantial declines in GM’s shares during the past four weeks. The stock had fallen by double digits since the strike began. It’s now down by about 4% since Sept.13, the last trading day before workers started picketing.
UAW are major stockholders in GM. Some sort of fraud here.
Given the GM crap foisted upon me during the 70s, I have absolutely no interest in EVER purchasing one of their products again. (I exclude my corvettes especially the ‘67 427 coupe I had. Yup stupid selling it!)
GM benefits by limiting the projected excess inventory for 2020.
GM engineers did its best design work since the 60’s on the new Corvette.
It has shaken the sports car market to its foundations.
And then the Union trashes its plans.
it would be worth a small fortune today!......
Takes time to sell it to the R&F..........
The UAW is always ready to party like its 1969.
This is horrible news for the Rat party.
The Union has been pointing to all the money GM has been making since 2009, and arguing for "its share". The problem is that time period covers the longest peacetime expansion in history, when earnings are going to average higher than they will long-term. Wage rates/benefits/promises that may seem sustainable right now may look quite different when the inevitable downturn hits.
But...I suppose we're have to wait and see the deal itself because seeing if GM made promises it won't be able to keep.
And the crap continued into the 80s... #metooGMcrap.
And their new cars are probably just as “crappy.”
They ripped me off, sold me a POS, and then refused to work with me to make it right. I’ll never forget nor forgive and that was 30 years ago.
A number of the problems with my car were stupid assembly issues but there were some design flaws with it too. Some safety related.
I suspect that GM management looked at the issues with my car and decided the ride out the lawsuits and not recall the car for the problems. It was a business decision to cut corners in quality in the first place and then a business decision to not fix the problems — two strikes and you are out!
The whole GM organization were lazy and didn't care about their customers.
I was talking to a co-worker last night, a early 50ish guy like me and we both agreed that GM and Chevy needs to pay for and bring back the IROC-Z Camaro.
Make it affordable and that car will sell like crazy.
what other piece of crap do they plan on selling?
My wife’s brother-in-law’s father owned two of them.........
Those cars were the hottest thing on the road back in the second half of the 80’s.
Everybody liked them and wanted to own one.
I had friends that both had Iroc’s and Formula 350’s.
With the WS6 suspension package those cars were pretty damn sweet.
been on some reallly terrifying runs in those cars..
lol....lucky to still be alive..
Myself as a young 18-early 20’s guy i owned Two sweet mint Z-28’s a silver 78 and a gold 1980 4 speed with T-Tops.
really miss those cars.
Cruising around on those summer nights with the roof off...so nice.
according to the internet they are part of the new wave of collectables.
Sold the 80 Z for 1,500 bucks in great condition....now going for many Thousands.
ugh....
Depending upon condition and rarity, $50k-$300k.
We fought with GM to fix the defects and then realized that GM was planning to abandon us once the warranty had expired. They started the BS of claiming that the defects were not covered because our warranty had expired — the same defects that they failed to repair UNDER warranty. It became a pi$$ing contest.
My wife almost got into two accidents because the POS stalled out on her when she was crossing traffic. It became a threat to our life and limb.
When we drove it to the dealership to trade it in, the rear end was making a strange clunking noise. Didn't sound good.
Buy a mint low mile 3 yr old Toyota for 1/2 sticker price and be happy for the next 15 yrs....
I did
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