GM Appeals Directly to Workers in Bid to Accelerate Contract Talks
October 11 2019 - 10:31AM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Colias
General Motors Co. -- frustrated at the pace of negotiations
with the United Auto Workers -- appealed directly to factory
workers with details of its latest contract proposal, a bid to end
a 26-day strike that is taking a financial toll on both sides.
In a letter to GM employees Friday, the company's global
manufacturing chief Gerald Johnson outlined broad terms of the
company's latest offer, including new details that haven't been
made public before, such as a clear path to full-time status for
temporary workers.
Mr. Johnson said the proposal also includes pay increases
through wages and lump-sum payments in each of the contract's four
years, as well as improved yearly profit-sharing payouts for hourly
workers and no increase in out-of-pocket health care costs.
In this latest offer, GM boosted its planned investment in U.S.
facilities to about $8.3 billion, up from the $7 billion it had
included in a proposal made public just before the strike began,
according to a person familiar with the proposal. The UAW this week
said it is pressing GM for better job security by making a firmer
commitment to build more cars in the U.S.
GM, in making its offer public, is taking the unusual step of
appealing directly to rank-and-file workers, a move that is without
precedent in previous years of contract talks.
The company's public letter comes as executives pressure UAW
leaders to accelerate the pace of talks, while union officials
press the company for a firmer commitment to creating jobs in the
U.S.
In an internal back-and-forth between the UAW and GM Thursday
night, the company expressed frustration that UAW bargainers hadn't
responded to GM's latest proposal, which it put forward Monday. The
UAW said it would wait until several bargaining subcommittees
conclude their analysis before formally responding.
A UAW spokesman didn't have an immediate comment on GM's latest
letter.
About 46,000 full-time GM workers have been on strike since
mid-September, idling more than 30 U.S. factories and triggering
shutdowns of GM plants in Canada and Mexico. The lost production
and other disruption from the work stoppage has cost GM roughly
$1.5 billion so far, according to an estimate Friday from Credit
Suisse analyst Dan Levy.
Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 11, 2019 10:16 ET (14:16 GMT)
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