Final agreement. With a little more trouble than expected, the workers of the Big Three of Detroit (General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, which absorbed Chrysler) have been ratifying the collective agreements that allowed an end to a historic motor strike in the United States, the first that hit all three companies simultaneously. The agreements with the companies are similar to each other and in all three cases they include strong salary increases and other benefits.
The strike has been a success for the nearly 150,000 motor workers affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the three aforementioned groups. They saw themselves expelled from the middle class due to the loss of purchasing power accumulated for years, since they made heavy sacrifices in the face of threats to the viability of companies in the midst of the Great Recession. The new agreements imply increases of more than 30% in salaries in four and a half years, along with other improvements in working conditions, employment guarantees and new rights.
The victory is not limited only to General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. The agreements signed by the three companies have had a contagion effect on other automobile companies present in the United States, but whose workers are not unionized. Toyota, Hyundai and Honda have approved immediate large pay raises for their employees.
Despite all the benefits that the new collective agreements incorporate, employees at several General Motors workplaces voted against, which raised fears for the final result in the company as a whole. Finally, a vote tracking spreadsheet on the union website shows that, once the data from all the centers is included, the agreement has been ratified with 19,683 votes in favor (54.74%) and 16,274 against. A union spokesperson confirmed to the AP on Thursday that the spreadsheet contained GM’s official totals.
In the case of Ford, although data from all centers has not yet been included, the tracking spreadsheet shows a two-thirds majority in favor of the agreement, just like in Stellantis. Although voting continues at Ford through Saturday, only two large Detroit-area factories and a few smaller facilities remain to be counted. At Stellantis, the three big Detroit-area factories are the only ones that have not yet voted, and the recount is expected to end Tuesday. In both cases, ratification is taken for granted, although with more opposition than that achieved in other labor agreements this year, such as the truckers’ agreement with UPS or that of Hollywood screenwriters with the major studios.
The most recent workers of the three companies are the greatest beneficiaries of the new agreements, which has caused the rejection of the agreement in the plants that have a greater proportion of more senior employees. These also achieve important improvements, but not as many as the new employees, who previously spent eight years penalized by a double salary scale and now will only be penalized for three years.
The president of the UAW, Shawn Fain, achieved the support of public opinion in a country not friendly to strikes by brandishing the record profits of the companies and the multimillion-dollar salaries of their directors. He hit the companies with a carrot and stick strike strategy in which he rewarded or punished the companies depending on the progress of the negotiations.
Although there are variations between the different agreements, in all of them the increase is 25% in hourly remuneration until April 2028, and with some adjustments for the cost of living it will be more than 30%, up to more than 40 dollars (38 euros) per hour for the typical worker. The increases in the initial salary and those of the lowest paid employees are much higher. The agreements also include improvements in pensions and restrictions on temporary employment, shorten the period of application of the double salary scale (the progression from new workers to the general salary scale takes place in three years instead of eight) and recognize the right of workers to strike in protest against factory closures, among other workplace safety measures. The salary improvements of this agreement, the UAW has highlighted, are greater than those accumulated in the last 22 years.
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