GM and Stellantis Workers Strike Enters 36th Day

On Friday, United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain said that the union has seen serious movement from General Motors and Stellantis as its strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers enters the 36th day.

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Fain made the remarks during a Facebook Live update on Friday afternoon, hours after GM made another offer to the UAW. "We costed the companies' offers ... and there is more to be won," he said, recalling that the negotiations with GM, Stellantis, and Ford continued on Friday.

Under the new offer, GM hourly workers represented by the UAW would make US$40.39 per hour by the end of the agreement, up from US$32.32 at present.

It has also offered to reinstate cost-of-living allowances (COLA) for seniority workers in the first year of the contract and convert all active full-time temporary employees with one year of employment to seniority level employment upon ratification of the deal.

GM will also provide workers a bonus upon ratification of the deal, though it didn't specify how much the bonus will be; and is increasing the basic benefit rate in the traditional team-member pension plan by 5 percent.

Stellantis has proposed a 21.4-percent wage increase, 20 percent not compounded. It has also agreed to restore the suspended COLA formula from 2009. Fain slammed Ford Chairman Bill Ford for his remarks of Ford reaching its limit in improving their offer to the UAW.

Ford's offer includes a 23-percent wage increase over the length of the contract, restoration of the COLA formula, permanent status for temporary workers with 90 working days, product commitments for all UAW-represented plants in the United States, ratification bonuses, and wage increases for temporary workers.

On Thursday, UAW Vice President Mike Booth said that the issues remaining in the negotiation include retirement security, retirement health care, and defined contribution plan. The UAW announced strike at Ford, GM and Stellantis on Sept. 14, after its contract expired.

It spread the strike to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers around the country on Sept. 22, following a failure in making meaningful progress in new contract negotiations, further to GM and Ford SUV assembly plants on Sept. 29, and further to Ford's highly profitable truck plant in Kentucky on Oct. 11.

To date, with nearly 4,000 Mack Trucks workers going on strike on Oct. 9, the total number of UAW members on strike now exceeds 38,000.