A wave of strikes by US auto companies ends with General Motors striking a deal with its workers
General Motors became the latest Detroit automaker to reach a new tentative labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union on Monday, ending a strike that had lasted more than six weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The union’s historic strike that sent more than 45,000 workers on strike at several factories is expected to end. Spare parts distribution centers.
The UAW union plans to officially announce details of the initial agreement on Monday, the sources told the newspaper.
On Saturday night, the union confederation expanded its strike at General Motors to a factory in Tennessee, a surprise move after negotiations between the two sides intensified over the past few days.
Tentative contracts at all three car companies must be approved by union-represented workers in ratification votes expected in the coming weeks.
The terms of GM’s deal with the workers could not be immediately determined, but they are expected to be broadly in line with proposed collective bargaining agreements among its crosstown rivals.
The end of the strike against automakers should provide some relief, but labor strikes have already led to a decline in profits in recent weeks, and new contracts are expected to burden companies with higher labor costs.
Some analysts expect these labor agreements to increase the companies’ spending on wages and benefits for union workers by $87 to $90 an hour.
This number is higher than Tesla and foreign automakers whose US factories are not unionized.
At Ford, the new union contract, if approved by members, would add $850 to $900 to labor costs per vehicle, the company said last Thursday.
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