UAW-GM Pact Would Boost Bonus, Wages, Plant Investments

The tentative contract between the United Auto Workers union and General Motors Co. would increase the signing bonus, hike wages and inject $1.6 billion into a dozen of the company’s manufacturing operations, according to the union.

Local leaders agreed late Wednesday to present the agreement for a ratification vote by the union’s 53,000 workers at GM.

The company, which previously announced $6.4 billion in investments in its U.S. factories, pledged in the contract to spend another $1.6 billion. The UAW says the move will secure about 3,300 jobs.

The company also is offering to pay workers $8,000 signing bonuses—twice the amount the UAW negotiated last week with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV—upon ratification.

The contract would continue GM’s annual profit sharing scheme, which pays union workers $1,000 for each $1 billion the company earns in North America. The region posted profits of more than $8 billion through the first three quarters of 2015.

Like the earlier FCA agreement, the union pact with GM would erase the current wage gap between senior workers and new hires. Eight years from now such hires could earn $30 per hour, the same rate for so-called tier-one employees. Tier-two pay was capped at $19 under the previous contract.