The United Auto Workers (UAW) union and Chrysler-owner Stellantis announced a tentative agreement on a new labor contract.
UAW President Shawn Fain confirmed the Stellantis agreement during a video appearance on Saturday evening. He said in a separate written statement that for Stellantis, “we have not only secured a record contract, we have begun to turn the tide in the war on the American working class.”
It comes after more than 14,000 UAW members carried out a six-week-long strike at two Stellantis assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio and at several distribution centers across the nation.
“We look forward to welcoming our 43,000 employees back to work and resuming operations to serve our customers and execute our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan to maintain Stellantis’ position at the forefront of innovation,” Stellantis North America COO Mark Stewart said in a written statement Saturday, referencing the name of the company’s business plan.
The deal leaves General Motors (GM) as the only member of the Big Three automakers without an agreement with the union, which had on Oct. 25 also reached an agreement with Ford.
The Ford and Stellantis agreements still need to be ratified by all workers. Employees are expected to return to work in the meantime.
The two deals won assembly plant workers a record 25 percent increase in general wages over the next 4.5 years, with 11 percent coming once the deal is ratified. Contracts run through April 30, 2028.
Under the Stellantis deal, workers will get cost-of-living pay that would bring the raises to a compounded 33 percent, with top assembly plant workers making more than $42 per hour. At Stellantis, top-scale workers now make around $31 per hour.
The UAW said the deal saved jobs in Belvidere as well at an engine plant in Trenton, Michigan, and a machining factory in Toledo, Ohio. “We’ve done the impossible. We have moved mountains. We have reopened an assembly plant that was closed,” Mr. Fain said.
President Joe Biden said in a statement the agreement “will guarantee workers the pay, benefits, dignity, and respect they deserve,” specifically by rewarding the autoworkers with “record raises, more paid leave, greater retirement security, and more rights and respect at work.”
“This contract is a testament to the power of unions and collective bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs while helping our most iconic American companies thrive,” he added.
UAW Expands Strike Against GM
Talks between the union and GM continue as the strike enters its seventh week. The UAW has expanded its strike against GM, with its members walking out Saturday night at a GM engine factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee—GM’s largest manufacturing facility in North America.
The plant makes the Cadillac XT5, XT6, the all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ, and the GMC Acadia.
UAW lawyer Benjamin Dictor said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Imagine, everyone is making trucks but you. If everyone else could get it done, what does that say about you?”
Roughly 3,900 people work at the plant, although not all are part of the union. With this expansion, approximately 18,000 GM workers are now on strike, representing close to 40 percent of the entire UAW workforce at the automaker.
In a statement, GM said that two of its large pickup plants could be affected by the Spring Hill walkout and that it wanted to reach an agreement quickly.
“We are disappointed by the UAW’s action in light of the progress we have made,” GM also said. “We have continued to bargain in good faith with the UAW, and our goal remains to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.”
The UAW is already striking at GM’s Arlington, Texas, assembly plant, which makes the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban and Cadillac Escalade. GM said earlier this week that this walkout was costing it $400 million a week.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
