INDIANA – Workers at Ford and Stellantis have voted to ratify tentative agreements between automakers and the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union after a highly contentious negotiating period that included a six-week strike affecting numerous facilities across the nation.
Workers at General Motors voted to ratify the new GM-UAW agreement last week. The new agreements cover labor operations through April of the 2028 calendar year.
Compared to the national UAW vote tally among GM workers, union members at Ford and Stellantis voted heavily in favor of ratification, with roughly 70 percent of Ford workers voting in favor of the agreement and roughly 68 percent of Stellantis workers voting in favor of the agreement. Meanwhile, the vote among GM workers was more evenly split, with 55 percent in favor and 45 percent against.
Ford was the first automaker to reach a tentative agreement with the UAW on October 25th. Stellantis followed suit on October 28th, while GM was the last to reach a tentative agreement on October 30th. Notably, GM workers were the first to ratify the new agreement, albeit by smaller margins than workers at Ford and Stellantis.
All three new contracts include large wage increases, with a 25-percent pay increase through 2028, while cost of living adjustments (COLA) will increase wages by as much as 30 percent by the end of the contract. The majority of workers will also receive a $5,000 ratification bonus. The time required to reach the top-tier wages has also been reduced significantly, falling from eight years to three years, with additional vacation time, holidays, and an increase in retirement contributions.
UAW leadership boasts that the new contracts represent bigger yearly gains for workers than in the previous four-year agreements. What’s more, UAW leadership indicates that the value of the contract proposals more than doubled compared to the original proposals made before the start of strikes on September 15th. The UAW represents 146,000 workers across all three Big Detroit automakers (GM, Ford, and Stellantis).
Information: GM Authority.
