Cleveland, Ohio – General Motors will commit to spending $1.9 billion in new plant investments in addition to $6.4 billion already pledged in the U.S., if workers pass the tentative contract reached late Sunday with the United Auto Workers (UAW).
Contract terms show major investments for:
- Bay City, Michigan – powertrain components
- Bedford, Indiana – powertrain and structural components
- Bowling Green, Kentucky – Corvette engine build
- Defiance, Ohio – powertrain components
- Flint, Michigan (engine south) – engine build
- Grand Rapid, Michigan – powertrain components
- Lockport, New York – powertrain cooling components
- Rochester, New York – powertrain components
- Saginaw, Michigan – metal-cast driveline components
- Spring Hill, Tennessee – engine build, additional stamping
- Toledo, Ohio – transmission build
- Tonawanda, New York – engine build
Other contract highlights include $8,000 signing bonuses, raises and bonuses throughout the four-year term for veteran employees and new hires, a continuation of the lucrative profit-sharing program, and a path that will bring lower-paid new hires to the full UAW wage within seven years of workers starting with the company.
“We believe this agreement gives UAW-GM members significant raises and stronger benefits that protect income security and job security,” says UAW President Dennis Williams. “By standing strong and united, we secured better pay, a clear path to traditional wages for all current members, and commitments to keeping jobs and product here. As is the UAW’s process, our membership makes the final decision and we look forward to the discussion ahead.”
UAW local presidents passed the contract terms earlier this week. The union’s general membership will vote on it throughout the next few weeks.
Earlier this month, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ (FCA) workers rejected their first tentative contract, in part because it didn’t detail investment plans and lacked a path for newer workers to achieve the traditional UAW wage. Workers later passed a revised version of the contract.
The GM deal offers bigger signing bonuses for workers than did the FCA contract, and the GM profit sharing has been far richer than the FCA deal for the past four years. But GM is financially healthier than FCA with more cash on hand for bonuses and more profit to share from quarterly earnings.
Source: UAW