UAW to Continue GM Strike Pending Contract Ratification

The United Auto Workers union will continue its walkout at General Motors Co. pending ratification of a new four-year labor agreement by union members next week.

The UAW’s GM Council voted to continue the strike, which began on Sept. 16, after a meeting yesterday than ran more than six hours. The pact can be adopted by a simple majority of the 42,000 GM hourly workers who cast ballots.

Voting by rank-and-file workers will begin tomorrow and be completed by the end of next week.

According to a UAW summary, the contract would pay a record-high signing bonus of $11,000 to fulltime employees. Temporary workers would receive $4,500. Wages for full-time workers would be increased with 4% lump sump payments in the first and third years and 3% wage boosts in the second and fourth years.

The UAW says new hires will be able to achieve the top manufacturing wage of $32.32 per hour within four years—half the time previously required. Current temporary workers with three years of continuous service will be able to transition to full-time employment in 2020.

The accord would retain current healthcare benefits without raising the cost paid by workers. It also would eliminate the previous $12,000 cap on profit sharing payouts.

In addition, GM has agreed to invest $9 billion in its U.S. facilities, including $3 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant open. The factory had been scheduled to close in January.