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GM and UAW reach contract
Source: Agencies |
September 19, 2011, Monday
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GENERAL Motors Co and the United Auto Workers union have reached a proposed deal for about 48,500 production workers that would create new factory jobs in the United States and include profit-sharing bonuses.
The proposed four-year contract, which must be ratified by rank-and-file workers, represents the first since US taxpayers bailed out GM and Chrysler Group LLC in 2009.
Details of the tentative deal, reached after seven weeks of negotiations, were being withheld until it could be reviewed by UAW officials from around the country at a meeting set for tomorrow in Detroit.
The proposed contract would recall about 570 GM workers currently on layoff, revive a now-idled assembly plant in Tennessee and pay one-time bonuses of about US$5,000 for each current worker, a person with knowledge of the terms said.
UAW President Bob King said the union had also held the line against proposals from GM to shift more healthcare costs to workers. Union members pay between 5 percent and 7 percent of their healthcare costs, far less than most Americans or even their salaried counterparts, who pay upward of 30 percent.
The UAW chose to complete negotiations with GM first, before reaching a deal with Chrysler and finally turning to Ford Motor Co, people close to the talks said.
The contract talks in Detroit have come amid rising uncertainty about the strength of US auto sales for the rest of this year and in 2012, as well as concerns over another slump.
The union had surrendered the right to strike at GM or Chrysler as part of the bankruptcies for them brokered by the Obama administration.
"As America struggles with record levels of unemployment, we aimed to protect the jobs of our members - to guarantee good American jobs at a good American company," King said.
The proposed four-year contract, which must be ratified by rank-and-file workers, represents the first since US taxpayers bailed out GM and Chrysler Group LLC in 2009.
Details of the tentative deal, reached after seven weeks of negotiations, were being withheld until it could be reviewed by UAW officials from around the country at a meeting set for tomorrow in Detroit.
The proposed contract would recall about 570 GM workers currently on layoff, revive a now-idled assembly plant in Tennessee and pay one-time bonuses of about US$5,000 for each current worker, a person with knowledge of the terms said.
UAW President Bob King said the union had also held the line against proposals from GM to shift more healthcare costs to workers. Union members pay between 5 percent and 7 percent of their healthcare costs, far less than most Americans or even their salaried counterparts, who pay upward of 30 percent.
The UAW chose to complete negotiations with GM first, before reaching a deal with Chrysler and finally turning to Ford Motor Co, people close to the talks said.
The contract talks in Detroit have come amid rising uncertainty about the strength of US auto sales for the rest of this year and in 2012, as well as concerns over another slump.
The union had surrendered the right to strike at GM or Chrysler as part of the bankruptcies for them brokered by the Obama administration.
"As America struggles with record levels of unemployment, we aimed to protect the jobs of our members - to guarantee good American jobs at a good American company," King said.
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