UAW reaches deal with GM, ending strike against Detroit automakers
By David Shepardson and Joseph White
(Reuters) — General Motors (NYSE:GM) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union have reached a tentative agreement, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, winning record pay hikes to end six weeks of a coordinated strike against the Detroit Three automakers.
The accord follows deals reached in the last few days by the union with Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and Chrysler owner Stellantis (NYSE:STLA), in what amounts to significant victories for auto workers after years of stagnant wages and painful concessions made by the union following the 2008 financial crisis.
Details of the GM deal were not announced, but sources said the UAW won the same package of wage increases it agreed at Ford and Stellantis, which raises top pay for veteran workers by 33%.
Nearly 50,000 workers out of nearly 150,000 union members at the Detroit Three eventually joined a series of walkouts that began on Sept. 15. The UAW's strategy of escalating, targeted strikes cost the Detroit Three and suppliers billions of dollars over more than 40 days.
The GM workers will return to work after an official announcement of the agreement, two sources said. A GM spokesperson declined comment.
Talks at GM stalled Saturday because of issues such as pension benefits and how fast temporary workers would get permanent work and the treatment of battery plant workers, sources have said.
The three tentative deals are a win for the precedent-breaking strategy orchestrated by UAW President Shawn Fain that involved bargaining with all three automakers at the same time and using the threat of strikes at key factories to accelerate a bidding war among the companies to avoid a new walkout.
Fain then kept most UAW members
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