Detroit Free Press

Free Press staff

According to a summary of the UAW's proposed tentative contract with General Motors, the union won on many of its goals, including a path to permanent employment for temporary autoworkers, a faster route to top pay for workers hired after 2007 and a flattened pay structure for permanent employees, who would reach $32.32 per hour by the end of the four-year deal.

The biggest obvious loss for the union is the continued closure of the Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio.

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Here are provisions of the deal according to the GM summary and Free Press reporting:

UAW-represented GM workers will get a bonus of $11,000 upon ratification of the deal. Temporary workers get $4,500.

GM will invest $7.7 billion in U.S. facilities to create or retain 9,000 jobs.

The Lordstown Assembly Plant in Ohio is to remain closed, as will transmission plants in Warren and Baltimore; and a parts distribution center in Fontana, California, will close during the term of the contract.



The union said it negotiated assistance packages for workers at Lordstown, Warren and Baltimore transmission plants, including $75,000 payments for eligible production workers and $85,000 for skilled workers who retire. There are also buyout options for those not eligible to retire.

Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant will be retooled to build an electric pickup.

Wage increases of 3% in the second and fourth year of the contract, with 4% lump sum payments in the first and third years.

Worker health-care costs are unchanged.

Temporary workers, who have been paid $15-$19 an hour with inferior benefits to permanent autoworkers, get a path to a permanent role starting next year. Part-time workers get a path to regular status starting in 2021. These workers also get improved paid and unpaid time off.

"The resulting agreement gives the union full approval authority and the ability to monitor the number of temporary employees working in the plants. Furthermore, the company now must have approval of the union to supplement the workforce for straight time, overtime or weekend work in any plant covered by the UAW GM National Agreement. The company may use part-time temporary employees only with UAW approval."

Newer union workers with two weeks' vacation a year will get to take one of those weeks at their choosing. In the previous contract, these employees were required to take both paid vacation weeks during scheduled plant shutdowns. The second week of a plant shutdown would be considered a layoff, qualifying workers for unemployment.

So-called in-progression workers hired after 2007 get a faster path to top pay. Under the previous contract, those workers started at $17 an hour, reaching $28/hour after eight years. Under the proposal, that is shortened to four years.

In addition, the deal calls for an early-retirement option for up to 2,000 production workers hired on or before Oct. 15, 2007, and up to 60 skilled trades people, who would receive $60,000 in cash.

By September 2023, all permanent manufacturing employees will be at $32.32 per hour.

The profit-sharing formula of $1,000 for workers for each $1 billion in North American pretax profit is unchanged but the $12,000 cap is removed.

The deal also calls for each GM location to set aside space for nursing mothers to express breast milk.

The union and company agreed to research "opioid use disorder prevention," accident prevention, industrial exposure and breast cancer prevention.

Although joint activities focused on health and safety and other issues between the union and GM continue, the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources would be dissolved under a memorandum of understanding. The center has become embroiled in the UAW corruption scandal and several people connected to the running of the center stand accused of misusing funds. The Free Press had earlier reported on the likelihood of the closure.

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