General Motors intends to invest approximately $13 billion in U.S. facilities by April 2028, according to the United Auto Workers union, as part of a recent tentative agreement with the carmaker.
Details of the tentative agreement were disclosed Saturday after local UAW leaders with GM accepted it. The agreement still needs to be confirmed by a simple majority of the union’s 46,000 members with the carmaker.
The agreement includes 25% wage raises, incentives, and other expanded benefits, as well as a $5,000 ratification bonus, similar to the UAW’s tentative agreement with Stellantis and Ford.
DETROIT, MI — General Motors is to invest nearly $13 billion in US facilities by April 2028, according to the United Auto Workers union, as part of a recent tentative agreement with the carmaker.
GM has already disclosed some of the planned investments for new electric vehicles, including $4 billion at Orion Assembly in suburban Detroit and $2 billion in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Others, such as the $1.25 billion investment in a planned electric vehicle manufacturing at Lansing Grand River, are brand new.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in new assembly plants to sustain or boost volume, as well as engine and component plants.
Details of the tentative agreement were disclosed Saturday after local UAW leaders with GM endorsed the pact, which still needs to be ratified by a simple majority of the union’s 46,000 members with GM. Following Ford Motor and Chrysler-parent Stellantis, GM was the last Detroit automaker to negotiate a provisional deal.
The union reveals investment and product specifics to members in order to represent employment stability.
GM’s U.S. investments under the conditions of the four-year tentative agreement were $8.1 billion at Ford and $18.9 billion at Stellantis, including $6.2 billion in previously planned components plants in Kokomo, Indiana.
The union’s disclosures for GM did not include billions of dollars in previously stated investments in four joint-venture battery cell plants in the United States, including three forthcoming projects.
GM declined to comment on the newly published details, instead referring to a statement made by CEO Mary Barra when the tentative contract was first announced: “GM is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in the U.S.,” she said in a statement. “We are looking forward to having everyone back to work across all of our operations, delivering great products for our customers, and winning as one team.”
The proposed labour agreement was announced Monday, following about six weeks of targeted strikes by the union against GM, Stellantis, and Ford, also known as the “Big Three” manufacturers. The work stoppages began on September 15 after the parties failed to secure agreements with the automakers covering 146,000 UAW members by a strike deadline.
“There’s a reason why the Big Three and their friends feel like they’ve been taken to the cleaners. This deal contains unprecedented salary increases and economic improvements, according to UAW Vice President Mike Booth during an online broadcast Saturday. “The gains in this contract are worth more than four times the last contract.”
The pact, like the UAW’s tentative agreement with Stellantis and Ford, offers 25% wage raises, incentives, and other expanded perks for autoworkers, such as profit-sharing payments and a $5,000 ratification bonus.
The 25% hikes consist of an 11% increase upon ratification, a 3% increase over the next three years, and a 5% increase in September 2027.
At GM, the union also made significant victories in reducing multiple tiers or levels of workers to be paid the same or equal to their conventional counterparts at assembly plants. According to UAW President Shawn Fain, if ratified by members, certain workers will earn an instant rise of 89%.
“One of our central goals in this round of negotiations was the elimination of tiers,” Fain stated during the programme. “While we didn’t win everything, we made enormous strides at GM.” We did more to abolish wage levels than any of the Big Three.”
Employees at GM’s Ultium Cells joint venture for battery cells have been added to the agreement, Fain said on Saturday. He stated that the battery workers will receive a rise of $6 to $8 per hour.
Fain repeated the union’s intention to use the record contracts with GM, Ford, and Stellantis as leverage to unionise other automakers on Saturday.
“We aren’t bashful or quiet about what our plans are: Our goal is to spend the next few years organising auto workers across this country,” he stated. “The Big Three aren’t the only automakers turning in record profits. Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Tesla employees all deserve record contracts.”
Toyota Motor revealed plans to raise pay at its US operations earlier this week. The new rates would see hourly manufacturing employees at Kentucky’s top rates receive nearly 9% pay rises to $34.80 an hour, which is still less than the more than $40 an hour maximum rate under the UAW’s tentative deals with Detroit automakers.
Ford UAW members have already begun voting on the tentative agreement. Notably, 82% of employees at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant voted in favour of the agreement this week. The suburban Detroit plant was among the first to go on strike, along with other GM and Stellantis assembly operations.
UAW members with Stellantis and GM are scheduled to vote on the contracts in the coming weeks.
