GM is expected to invest $13 billion in U.S. factories under the new UAW deal

DETROIT – General Motors Co. plans to invest nearly $13 billion in U.S. facilities by April 2028, the United Auto Workers union said as part of its latest tentative agreement with the automaker.

GM has already announced some planned investments such as $4 billion in Orion Assembly in suburban Detroit and $2 billion in Spring Hill, Tennessee for new electric vehicles. There are other new projects, such as a $1.25 billion future electric vehicle factory in Lansing’s Grand River.

Many of the new investments include hundreds of millions of dollars for assembly plants to support or add additional volume as well as engine and component plants.

Details of the tentative agreement were released Saturday after local UAW leaders with GM approved the agreement, which still must be ratified by a simple majority of the union’s 46,000 members with the automaker. GM was the last Detroit automaker to reach a tentative agreement after Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler parent Stellantis.

The union discloses investment and product details to portray job security for members.

GM’s U.S. investments through the 4 ½-tear terms compare to the $8.1 billion the union announced at Ford and $18.9 billion at Stellantis, including $6.2 billion in previously announced parts plants in Kokomo, Indiana.

The details disclosed by the union to General Motors did not include billions of dollars in previously announced investments in four joint battery cell factories in the United States, including three upcoming facilities.

GM declined to comment on the details released, referring to CEO Mary Barra’s statement when the tentative deal was initially announced: “GM is pleased to reach a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the team’s contributions while enabling us to continue to invest in our future,” she said. And creating good jobs in the United States.” “We look forward to getting everyone back to work across all of our operations, delivering great products to our customers, and winning as one team.”

The temporary labor agreement was announced Monday after nearly six weeks of targeted strikes organized by the union against General Motors, Stellantis and Ford, also known as the “Big Three” automakers. The work stoppages began on September 15 after the two sides failed to reach deals covering the UAW’s 146,000 members with automakers by the strike deadline.

“There’s a reason the Big Three and their allies feel like they’ve just been passed down to the cleaners. This contract includes wage increases and economic gains like we’ve never seen before,” UAW Vice President Mike Booth said during a news conference. Webcast on Saturday. “The gains in this decade are worth more than four times the last decade.”

Like the UAW’s tentative agreement with Stellantis and Ford, the deal includes 25% wage increases and bonuses and other enhanced benefits for autoworkers, such as profit-sharing payments and a $5,000 endorsement bonus.

The 25% increases include an 11% increase upon ratification, followed by a 3% increase in the next three years and then a 5% increase in September 2027.

At General Motors, the union has also made significant gains in cutting levels or different tiers of workers who will receive the same or similar pay as their traditional co-workers at assembly plants. UAW President Sean Fine said some workers would receive an immediate 89% raise if ratified by members.

“One of our central goals in this round of negotiations was to eliminate the levels,” Fine said during the broadcast. “Although we haven’t won it all, we’ve made tremendous strides at GM. We’ve done more to eliminate wage levels than any of the Big Three.”

New workers added to the agreement include employees at GM’s Ultium Cells battery cell joint venture, Fine confirmed on Saturday. Battery workers will receive a raise of $6 to $8 an hour, he said.

Fine on Saturday confirmed the union’s plans to use standard contracts with GM, Ford and Stellantis as leverage to unite other automakers.

“We are not shy or quiet about our plans: Our goal is to spend the next few years organizing auto workers across this country,” Fine said. “The Big Three aren’t the only auto companies making record profits. Auto workers at Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Tesla deserve record contracts, too.”

Toyota Motor Corp. earlier this week announced plans to raise wages at its U.S. factories. The new rates will see Kentucky’s highest-rate hourly manufacturing employees receive pay increases of nearly 9% to $34.80 an hour — still below the top rate of more than $40 an hour under the UAW’s initial agreements with Detroit automakers.

UAW members at Ford have already begun voting on that tentative agreement. It is worth noting that 82% of workers at Ford’s Michigan assembly plant voted in favor of the agreement this week. The suburban Detroit plant was among the first to be struck along with other General Motors and Stellantis assembly plants.

UAW members, along with Stellantis and GM, are expected to vote on the deals within the next two weeks.