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The new UAW contracts with the Big Three are fantastic news for the Midwest [1]
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Date: 2023-11-04
Much has already been written about the new UAW contracts with the Big Three here on Daily Kos and elsewhere, but I was looking through the UAW’s brochures detailing the agreement with Stellantis (linked below) and it occurred to me that these contracts are going to be veritable economic nirvana for the industrial Midwest. I was reading through the hourly agreement and I don’t think I’d been so excited about any economic news in many years!
The two links below are links to the UAW’s agreement with Stellantis for hourly workers and for salary workers. There’s a lot of overlap in the two documents, so you could probably just look through the hourly one and that should be good enough:
Stellantis (Chrysler):
This seems to be the most transformative of the 3 agreements. Highlights:
Both hourly and salaried workers get immediate 11% raises, 3% raises for the three years after that, then a 5% raise the last year of the contract. And those raises are before COLAs. This would total to a 25% raise over the life of the contract.
Speaking of COLAs, a COLA is returning after having been eliminated as part of their 2009 contract.
$1.5 billion investment in the Belvidere, IL plant which was shuttered earlier this year. The plant will be re-tooled to make a mid-sized electric pickup truck, with two shifts. This sounds like it will create at least 1,000 jobs. In addition, a new battery plant will be built on the site with about 1,300 jobs. And the site will also become a parts distribution hub, undoubtedly creating a lot of additional jobs too.
$1.5 billion investment in the Toledo Assembly Complex.
$600 million investment in the Warren (MI) Truck assembly plant.
$1.4 billion investment in the Sterling Heights Ram plant.
$1.5 billion investment in the Detroit Assembly plant.
$2.55 billion in investments at various powertrain plants.
$250 million in investments at a couple of stamping plants.
Significant upgrades to company health care plans and retirement plans. And Juneteenth is now a holiday.
$21/hour starting wages for supplemental employees.
And much, much more. Undoubtedly many of these investments were planned already by Stellantis, but it’s nice to seem them reinforced in the new contract. I highly recommend you click on at least the hourly agreement and browse through it. There’s a ton of great stuff. The immediate 11% raises alone will undoubtedly add a ton of purchasing power throughout much of the Midwest.
Next we look at General Motors, whose agreement was detailed today.
General Motors:
From the looks of it, there aren’t as many dramatic improvements to the contract with GM as there was with Stellantis — undoubtedly because GM in the past had not been in as dire straights as Chrysler, and workers in GM did not give up as many benefits as Chrysler had (that’s my guess, at least). But there is still a lot of good stuff in there:
Hourly workers get immediate 11% raise, 3% raises for the three years after that, then a 5% raise the last year of the contract — same as hourly workers at Stellantis.
New starting wage for temporary workers at $21/hour, plus a lot of new benefits for temps.
Accelerated starting wage progression. Workers can now earn the top wage in just 3 years instead of the old 8 years.
The item above will also reduce the number of wage tiers.
As with Stellantis, a COLA is being restored.
$4 billion investment in Orion, MI plant for future electric vehicles.
Over $3 billion in investments at other plants for electric vehicles.
Almost $4 billion in investments at various ICE plants.
The right to strike over plant closures.
Juneteenth added as a holiday.
And again, a lot more. I recommend, once again, clicking on one of the PDF links above.
Ford:
The agreement with Ford is similar to that with GM. Some highlights:
Hourly workers get immediate 11% raise, 3% raises for the three years after that, then a 5% raise the last year of the contract — same as hourly workers at Stellantis and GM.
New hire wage progression.
COLA restored — same as Stellantis and GM.
Enhanced profit sharing.
$400 million investment in Chicago Assembly plant.
$900 million investment in Dearborn Assembly.
$1.0 billion investment in Kansas City Assembly (yay!).
$750 million investment in Kentucky Truck assembly.
$1.2 billion investment in Louisville Assembly, including new EV vehicle.
$2.1 billion investment in Ohio Assembly (which is west of Cleveland), including new EV vehicle.
$213 million in investments in engine operations.
$840 million in investments in transmission and driveline operations.
$560 million in investments in stamping operations.
And as usual, much more. Click on the PDF link for hourly workers above.
All these investments will surely add a lot to the boom in manufacturing plant construction I outlined several months ago. And the overwhelming majority of it will be in the Midwest.
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