GM, auto workers union reaches tentative contract

DETROIT — Minutes before their contract was set to expire, the United Automobile Workers union and General Motors announced a tentative agreement Sunday night on a new national agreement covering about 52,000 employees.

In a statement, union president Dennis Williams praised the accord, saying, “We believe that this agreement will present stable long-term significant wage gains and job security commitments to UAW members now and in the future.”

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No details were disclosed, but the union suggested that the tentative agreement maintained the wage progression formulation forged in the pattern-setting agreement reached last week with Fiat Chrysler.

Union leaders from GM plants nationwide will convene Wednesday in Detroit to discuss and vote on the tentative agreement, which would then be put to union members. The Fiat Chrysler agreement last week was reached only after the union membership rejected an earlier tentative accord and the union set a strike deadline.

While the union had not specifically threatened a strike against GM, it said Saturday that the current contract would be voided at 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Cathy Clegg, the General Motors vice president for North American manufacturing and labor relations, said in a statement, “Working with our UAW partners, we developed constructive solutions that benefit employees and provide flexibility for the company to respond to the needs of the marketplace.”

Last Thursday, the union and Fiat Chrysler sealed a four-year deal that, over time, brings wages of entry-level workers into line with those of veteran employees. The two-tier wage system was not expected to be as big an issue at General Motors. More than 45 percent of Fiat Chrysler workers are entry-level, compared with about 20 percent at GM.

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Traditionally, national labor agreements between the UAW and automakers follow the basic template set by the company that the union chooses for opening talks. GM and Ford had each agreed to extend their UAW contracts while Fiat Chrysler bargained with the union.

But because each automaker is somewhat different, the union usually tailors demands accordingly. GM, for example, is in a better financial position than Fiat Chrysler. GM reported last week that it had made a pretax profit of $8.3 billion in North America in the first nine months of the year. The union had said it would seek compensation for concessions it made that helped the automaker survive bankruptcy in a government-backed bailout.

For John Ryan Bishop, an entry-level employee at GM’s Flint Truck Assembly plant, only a single pay scale is acceptable. “I cannot endorse anything that still has tiers in it,” Bishop said, adding that it would take several years for his pay to match that of veteran workers. “I’m a third-generation autoworker, and my grandfather and dad aren’t jealous of what we’ve had to go through to provide for our families, especially when GM is as profitable as ever.”

Lower-level talks at Ford will continue until a contract is ratified with GM. All three manufacturers have been in negotiations with the union since July.