Fiat Chrysler workers approved their contract last month.
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Under the new contract, about 57,200 GM hourly workers will receive $8,000 signing bonuses and wage increases.
Like a previous contract ratified by Fiat Chrysler workers, GM’s agreement would eliminate a two-tier wage system over eight years.
Finally, for the hundreds of workers who took positions at GM plants away from home – one of the effects of the 2008-2009 collapse and bailout of the United States auto industry – the contract would allow any affected employee to come back home though special “one-time enhanced language.”
Over the next several days, UAW leaders will meet with skilled trades workers at each work site to determine their reasons for rejecting the deal, a union statement said.
Once the NFC votes to approve the proposed tentative agreement, it will be immediately presented to the UAW-FORD membership.
The rejection by skilled trades workers could lead to changes in provisions specifically aimed at those workers.
UAW leaders hoped that those workers provided momentum for ratification after union members at two plants delivered mixed results over the weekend.
Both skilled trades and production workers must ratify the deal separately.
Earlier Friday, workers at an engine plant in Tonawanda, N.Y., gave the agreement a narrow 51 percent approval, but Local 909 at a transmission plant in Warren, Mich., rejected it by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin.
GM now pays recent hires around $15.78 per hour.
The UAW has concluded a week-long ratification process concerning a tentative agreement between the UAW and General Motors.
The no. 2 US auto maker is pledging $9 billion in new factory investments as part of the deal, a move that will create or retain 8,500 jobs, these people said.
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The union had secured higher pay and top-level health-care benefits for entry-level production workers, who would be able to make as much as $29 an hour – up from a maximum of $19.25 now – and get medical coverage with no premium like traditional UAW workers do. Older workers got a $4,000 bonus.
