The UAW started discussions again with the Detroit-based company Thursday.
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The new contract will do away with the two-tier wage system through raising second tier wages to $29 per hour over the next eight years or less.
“These are the same UAW characteristics we witnessed firsthand while trying to negotiate a responsible solution when GM and Chrysler had their backs up against the wall during the 2008 auto crisis”, Corker said in an email Friday. “I don’t think there will be a strike – I don’t think anyone wants one”.
The American Council of Employees (ACE) “expressed disappointment’ that the United Auto Workers is seeking a new vote at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant”. Schwartz said hourly wages and pensions usually follow the pattern, profit sharing tends to be different.
The FCA agreement changed the formula that determines the amount of profit sharing employees receive. This agreement represents an investment in our US workforce and recognizes its contributions to the company’s growth over the past six years.
An area of contention in the Fiat Chrysler talks is an alternative work schedule that is hard on the body and much-hated. The Lordstown GM plant employs about 4,500. It is unfortunate, however, that the UAW would try to take advantage of the current situation by demanding an immediate election.
The UAW has said Local 42 has gained the membership of a majority of the blue-collar workers in Chattanooga. The union hasn’t yet reached an agreement with Ford.
Contact Alisa Priddle: 313-222-5394 or [email protected]. The UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV have a new contract that goes into effect today, while Ford Motor Co has yet to enter intensified talks with the union.
September 14: Contracts at all four automakers expired at midnight.
In several concessionary contracts with the UAW since 2007, GM has lowered its average labor costs to about $55 per hour from about $75.
It was only minutes before a strike deadline on October 7 that Fiat Chrysler and the UAW reached agreement, averting the first strike on a Detroit automaker since 2007.
In 2011, GM workers received a $5,000 signing bonus compared with a $3,500 signing bonus at FCA.
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The UAW and GM must also reach an agreement on what is likely a more hard issue – the 25% cap GM now has on the number of entry-level workers it can carry.
