Big Three Contracts: Who Won?

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4545
Date Written:  2016-01-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2016
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21306

The 2015 UAW/Big Three contracts took 67 days and multiple attempts to ratify, resulting in what most autoworkers see as a partial victory.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Next up was GM. Going into the negotiations the corporation stated it intended to maintain its 10% profitability rate; no UAW official challenged the remark.

The tentative agreement offered a moratorium on outsourcing and $1.9 billion in new investments in addition to the $6.4 billion already announced, promising 3,300 jobs at 12 different sites. Of course, there's always a loophole for management to renege on such promises.

The agreement mirrored the eight-year pattern for moving second-tier workers, representing 20% of GM's 52,700 unionized work force, to the highest wage. Additionally their health care coverage was raised to match first-tier benefits. At GM even temps are entitled to health care coverage after 90 days - and earn a whopping 24 hours of unpaid (yes, the contract specifies unpaid!) annual vacation time.

While COLA was off the table, veteran workers were to receive annual wage increases similar to the Chrysler agreement. The signing bonus of $8,000 was available to both - and even temps working more than 90 days would receive $2,000.