General Motors and the United Auto Workers union reached a tentative agreement on Monday that increases wages for workers following six weeks of strikes at GM facilities around the country.
The deal with GM followed other deals with Ford and Stellantis after the union representing workers for the automobile companies demanded higher pay as well as “economic and social justice.” Members of the union must still vote to accept the terms of the agreement before it can be officially implemented.
“The UAW reached a historic tentative agreement with General Motors that paves the way for a just transition and wins record economic gains for autoworkers,” the union said in a statement. “Like the agreements with Ford and Stellantis, the GM agreement has turned record profits into a record contract.”
The agreement, which would be in place through April 2028, will factor in cost of living increases, which have jumped as food and transportation inflation have hit record highs during the Biden administration.
“The agreement grants 25% in base wage increases through April 2028, and will cumulatively raise the top wage by 33% compounded with estimated COLA [cost of living allowances] to over $42 an hour. The starting wage will increase by 70% compounded with estimated COLA, to over $30 an hour,” the union said.
GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said the company “is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in the U.S.”
GM has lost an estimated $800 million during the lengthy strike.
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The strike gained the attention of leading 2024 presidential candidates, including President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Biden, who previously spoke to workers in Michigan, praised the deal with GM, saying that it rewards “autoworkers who gave up much to keep the industry working and going during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.”
During a September speech before autoworkers in Clinton Township, Michigan, Trump blasted Biden’s economic and environmental policies, taking aim at Biden’s aggressive push to “transition” the U.S. from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles.
“You can be loyal to American labor or you can be loyal to the environmental lunatics,” Trump said. “But you can’t really be loyal to both. It’s one or the other.”
“The auto industry is being assassinated,” Trump added. “If you want to buy an electric car, that’s absolutely fine. I’m all for it. But we should not be forcing consumers to buy electric vehicles they don’t want to buy.”