The Details About The UAW Contract For GM

[William Maley]

The Details About The UAW Contract For GM

William Maley - Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

September 20, 2011

Related: GM & UAW Reach An Agreement Over Labor Contracts

Today, the United Auto Workers released details of their agreement with General Motors and it appears the Union came out pretty good.

General Motors has reportedly agreed to retain or create 6,400 union jobs as part of a $2 billion investment for in future products and the plants that build them. The investments include,

• Two new midsize vehicles to be built at Spring Hill
  
• New transmission program at the company's Warren, MI powertrain plant
  
• New engine program at the company's Romulus, MI powertrain plant
  
• New casting operation at a plant in Saginaw, MI
  
• Additional production shift at GM's Wentzville, Mo., assembly plant (Expected to build a new compact truck)
  

GM and the UAW have also agreed to offer a $10,000 buyout to eligible employees who retire over the next two years and a eye watering $65,000 (or a Cadillac CTS-V) to skilled trades workers who retire between November 1 and March 31, 2012. GM also raised the minimum wage for for entry-level workers from $14/hour to $15.78/hour, as well as improving their health insurance and offering tuition assistance.

Current Workers will be able to get a $5,000 bonus if the agreement is ratified. Workers will also get a minimum profit-sharing payment in early 2012 of $3,500 based on GM's profits through June 2011, an annual award of $250 if the company meets certain quality goals, and a lump-sum of of $1,000 in 2012, 2013 and 2014 for cost-of-living adjustments.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

[CSpec]

Hey I think someone forgot to tell the UAW it's not 1955 and there's a thing called competition these days.

[Northstar]

Maybe when the government has to bail GM out again in 15-20 years, this time they will get rid of the UAW.

And why the hell did GM agree to these terms? Current workers get a $5000 bonus, and then at least $3500 more for profit sharing? Wow, just wow.

On top of that the minimum base pay is pretty good for someone without a college degree. And of course I'm sure the health benefits are fantastic, and now GM will pay for tuition.

[CSpec]

Plus $1,000 a year for nonexistent cost of living increases.

[daves87rs]

Really, guys?

Maybe you should read it first before you comment......

I'm so sick and tired of this "death to the UAW" bull$h!...........

Heck, I'll make it simple for you.....GM is "retiring" those high paying jobs....among a few other things.....

[SoCalCTS]

OMG, I feel sorry for anyone that thinks $15/hr is excessive or thinks performance based bonuses are unreasonable. What I find unreasonable is the golden parachutes for executives and the millions of dollars in stock options granted to management.

[loki]

GM is "retiring" those high paying jobs....among a few other things.....

but are they "getting rid" of the truly skilled ones that might bite them in the ass later?

ford, back in the $5/day, would be paying "Every worker" (on the line?) $110K+ /year now a days and made the product achievable to "everyone". oh, wait, even; "By the 1920s, the price had fallen to $290", that's worth ~$26+k now a days. hm. weird. our cheap cars today are , what....~11K. technology is great!

clarification: that yearly wage would be for a 52 week work year.

Edited September 21, 2011 by loki

[daves87rs]

GM is "retiring" those high paying jobs....among a few other things.....

but are they "getting rid" of the truly skilled ones that might bite them in the ass later?

ford, back in the $5/day, would be paying "Every worker" (on the line?) $110K+ /year now a days and made the product achievable to "everyone". oh, wait, even; "By the 1920s, the price had fallen to $290", that's worth ~$26+k now a days. hm. weird. our cheap cars today are , what....~11K. technology is great!

clarification: that yearly wage would be for a 52 week work year.

Simple answer- No.

Many of our local plants (including D-Ham) have had people waiting in the wings these last five years or so...and will be happy to fill those spots-even if the pay is lower...

[GMTruckGuy74]

• Additional production shift at GM's Wentzville, Mo., assembly plant (Expected to build a new compact truck)
  

I sure hope that is referring to the Colorado/Canyon replacement and that the US gets these for sale here

Edited September 21, 2011 by GMTruckGuy74

[Robert Hall]

$15.78/hr is only about $31k/yr w/o ot.

[Northstar]

$15.78/hr is only about $31k/yr w/o ot.

It's $32,800 and change. Add in $5k bonus, $3500+ bonus, and $1k bonus, and the workers are making $42300 a year. If they work 100 hours of overtime a year, they make $44700.

What does a starting engineer make at GM? $55k? And they are probably salaried, so working overtime doesn't net any extra money.

Factor in that the UAW worker gets ridiculous benefits. The engineer probably pays $2k more a year in health insurance than the UAW worker. The engineer probably has to pay $5k a year in student loans. The UAW worker gets to go to college on GM's dime, or at least partly.

So the engineer nets ~$47k after paying for theoretical student loans and health insurance while UAW worker probably walks out with ~$44k.

What exactly is the incentive to go to college anymore? Just work for GM for a little while and they'll pay for school. Or you can make just as much working on the assembly line as you can going to school, and start your job at 18 instead of 22.

People wonder why all of the manufacturing goes overseas. It's pretty simple to me.

I work at a forging company and the work the union members do in the factor is way more dangerous than putting together vehicles, way more physically demanding work, and they get $14/hr and they don't get those insane bonuses.

On top of that, the US is one of a few countries that actually has the equipment to build the parts we build. We have one of the few 25000 pound forging hammers in the world.

In terms of automobile assembly plants, you can find those all over the world.

Do people forget a major reason why GM went bankrupt in the first place?

[daves87rs]

$15.78/hr is only about $31k/yr w/o ot.

It's $32,800 and change. Add in $5k bonus, $3500+ bonus, and $1k bonus, and the workers are making $42300 a year. If they work 100 hours of overtime a year, they make $44700.

What does a starting engineer make at GM? $55k? And they are probably salaried, so working overtime doesn't net any extra money.

Factor in that the UAW worker gets ridiculous benefits. The engineer probably pays $2k more a year in health insurance than the UAW worker. The engineer probably has to pay $5k a year in student loans. The UAW worker gets to go to college on GM's dime, or at least partly.

So the engineer nets ~$47k after paying for theoretical student loans and health insurance while UAW worker probably walks out with ~$44k.

What exactly is the incentive to go to college anymore? Just work for GM for a little while and they'll pay for school. Or you can make just as much working on the assembly line as you can going to school, and start your job at 18 instead of 22.

People wonder why all of the manufacturing goes overseas. It's pretty simple to me.

I work at a forging company and the work the union members do in the factor is way more dangerous than putting together vehicles, way more physically demanding work, and they get $14/hr and they don't get those insane bonuses.

On top of that, the US is one of a few countries that actually has the equipment to build the parts we build. We have one of the few 25000 pound forging hammers in the world.

In terms of automobile assembly plants, you can find those all over the world.

Do people forget a major reason why GM went bankrupt in the first place?

It's called retirement benefits. That's what was killing GM, not the current crop of employees.....

[PurdueGuy]

OMG, I feel sorry for anyone that thinks $15/hr is excessive or thinks performance based bonuses are unreasonable.

It's a lot of money for assembly work in most parts of the country. $15/hr may not be excessive in socal, but in most of the rest of the US (example: where most of these plants are located) the cost of living isn't nearly so high, and $15/hr + benefits is a pretty substantial wage for this sort of work. I know, I've worked in a similar factory, and everyone I knew there was VERY happy to be making $13-15/hr.

Really, I don't think it's hugely excessive (though it is unnecessarily high for an entry wage), the real issue is that the UAW will be looking for another $2-3 wage increase next time 'round, and at that point GM would be really stupid to give it. There's also no real reason to be increasing entry wages when so many workers are out of jobs & would be glad to have those $13/hr jobs.