Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave
The United Auto Workers said its members have ratified new contracts at all of the Big Three automakers, resulting in pay increases of at least 25 percent over four and a half years and additional benefits, marking one of the labor movement’s biggest victories in decades.
The union’s combative new president, Shawn Fain, said the UAW would now turn its attention to trying to unionize the U.S. auto industry beyond General Motors, Ford and Stellantis and other employers.
“The Stand Up Strike was just the beginning. The UAW is setting the standard again. Now we are bringing our strike power and fighting spirit to the rest of the industries we represent and to millions of non-union workers who are ready to stand up and fight for a better way of life,” Fain said in a statement Monday.
The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the contract among Ford and Stellantis workers, but it was narrower for union workers at General Motors. Five major GM factories voted against the deal last week, with some veteran workers objecting to receiving a smaller raise compared to others.
The deal comes after workers’ wages had long failed to keep up with inflation and after the union gave up some of its benefits at the time of the Great Recession, when automakers were struggling to survive. The union managed to win back many of these benefits in the new agreements, including the restoration of regular cost-of-living wage adjustments to offset inflation.
Some workers said they were disappointed that the union had not met its goal of restoring defined benefit pensions and retiree health care to all workers. However, the contract increases company contributions to 401(k) accounts to 10 percent of an employee’s wages. It also provides more paid leave and gives workers the right to strike over plant closures during the term of the contract – a right the UAW sees as important to protecting jobs.