General Motors has backtracked on a previous UAW contract proposal that would have allocated production of an electric pickup truck to the soon-to-be-shuttered Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, according to media reports.
The same proposal would have also seen the automaker assign battery cell production to the closed Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio, as well – a plan that is also now off the table.
“GM has backed away from a commitment to American workers,” an anonymous source told ABC affiliate WXYZ Detroit. “GM is reluctant to make commitments on other plants.”
The UAW released a statement Friday indicating that discussions with GM were progressing, only to release another on Sunday claiming they had broken down. One of the main reasons for this was GM’s reversal of a decision to re-open Detroit-Hamtramck and Lordstown, WXYZ’s report indicates. The union has said previously that it will not accept a contract proposal that doesn’t include new projects at the two assembly plants.
Lordstown Assembly, which formerly built the Chevrolet Cruze, was closed in March of this year, while Detroit-Hamtramck is set to shut down in January.
On Sunday, GM released a statement saying it will “continue to negotiate in good faith with very good proposals that benefit employees today and builds a stronger future for all of us. We are committed to continuing discussions around the clock to reach a resolution.”
In addition to re-opening the two plants, the UAW believed to be seeking increased wages, a revised pension plan and a clear path to full-time employment for temporary workers once they have been with the company for a certain amount of time.
The UAW has been striking since September 16, when roughly 50,000 unionized GM employees walked off the job site. GM is thought to have lost as much as $1 billion due to the strike so far.
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Source: WXYZ
Comments
The union haven’t learned about the past’s lessons. They were already (partially) accountable for the first bankruptcy. Now, they’re going to prevent GM of taking the next electric step whereas the european, korean and american competitors are already well positioned on the market. When there will be again an energy crisis, GM will not be prepared! It reminds me when GM didn’t take the good decisions, like producing a true good small car. Then, when the company will be again in the difficulties, they will be the first to complaint. In Europe and Japan, the unions are influential but not at this point! Many peoples praise PSA for its success with Opel but I think Peugeot hasn’t so much problems with the german unions. It’s a shame!
First of all, GM is always late to the game when it comes to the EV market AND WHEN THEY DID SHOW UP, they executed their EV poorly ie Cadillac ELV and the Bolt. This has nothing to do with UAW, the blame should be on upper management with the atrocious marketing plan they have going on.
It is clear that GM has no uniform marketing plan and will let the four divisions run amuck unorganized and all. You have Chevy running the lame “non paid actors” commercials going around touting the JD Power award which is given to pretty much everything that has four wheels and an engine. You have Cadillac running decent but super feminine ( the XT4 and the bang bang girly commercial that reminds me of some lipstick commercial) ads. You have Buick literally dissing its own brand “ here’s your Buick (a regalX), no that’s my Buick over there (the shitty envision)”. Lastly you have GMC that runs perfectly fine Sierra ads, but where are the Yukon, Acadia, All terrain ads?
Even if GM has a killer EV come out, the world wouldn’t care unless you peruse this site on a daily basis. And that’s the issue, GM can’t seem to market their vehicles and the new Corvette is a prime example. Killer car in all aspects, but where are the commercials? Where are the bill boards? Where are the sports ads on your Sunday night football? They didn’t market the C7 on TV either.
So to place the blame that the UAW is holding back GM from being the leader in EV’s is asinine. Tesla leads the segment, and they’re not building them quick enough to ship out with less than a quarter of the workforce GM has!
I agree with you about the current GM’s upper management and I’m not anti unions. GM is always late and particularly on the EV market but these strike won’t improve the situation: As you said, Tesla has a huge success and another carmakers like Audi already are on the market with more luck to success with more credibility. The UAW and the GM’s workers must to realize that the internal combustion engine, it is over (or almost). The GM’s labor cost is higher than the competitors that prevents GM of delivering a good product, more ambitious technologically with the better reliability, finish or styling/design and the problem is the UAW will have to take this in account if they want to keep GM alive.
(part 1)
Forget the contract. Start talking about a return to work agreement.
Where GM agrees to:
– offer a thousand temporary workers Fulltime positions
– Keep building the Impala & Cadillac CT6 at Detroit/Hamtramck until December 2020
– Not to kill off any models made in the U.S. until a new contract is negotiated (Chevy Sonic)
– not to sell Lordstown while contract negotiations are taking place.
– immediately install wage increases and benefits agreed to in current negotiations
The union has said previously that it will not accept a contract proposal that doesn’t include new projects at the two assembly plants.
GM needs cuts so there is probably zero chance they add full time jobs, especially with the current $13.00 per hour disadvantage. Any “temps” will remain or increase. They already have over capacity so the idled plants are done. If GM were to extend the current contract they have a $5B disadvantage over the next 4 years.
None of transplants have to deal with this insane waste of time and resources…. GM will move more jobs south and it’s the fault of the UAW. This has to end and tho I think GM leadership stinks it needs to end with this situation. To all you employees you’d be better off decertifying the UAW because GM needs to right size itself not give more up?
“– Not to kill off any models made in the U.S. until a new contract is negotiated (Chevy Sonic)”
– Force GM to keep building cars that aren’t selling in a shrinking market to justification keeping a plant open so that the UAW has a means to collect dues.
– Keep UAW members perpetually scared of having the plant closed by perpetually promising future production, even if the push is towards fewer platform with high levels of modular design that requires less manufacturing effort.
– Instill a fear of the future, anything new, EV technology, AV technology, or anything not aligned with idealistic impressions of how auto manufacturing was 50+ years ago.
Sure thing bro.
Agreements have to die many deaths before they become Agreements.
Evan, I know you are just trying to be funny I think, but if GM was to go under it would be a big national security threat. Think about it. There are only 3-4 major manufacturing companies in the US. GM, GE, Ford, Boeing. That is a main reason why the government helped them previously, not to mention about 1-million jobs to lose including contractors.
To lose GM with the way our government is being run with it’s continued provoking of other countries with threats and demands, and having other major military powers out there, we would be cutting ourselves thin and would be very vulnerable!
Simple answer: Put VSS platform in Lordstown and future EV in Hamtramck. Dump Korea. and Dump a plant in Mexico
Evan you don’t get it or understand how our countries security works. You need to have major manufacturing companies like I mentioned to be able to supply weapons to the military. If you don’t have this you are vulnerable. The US has made major cuts to their military since the cold war days. Other countries have caught up with weapon capacity and technology. If the US doesn’t have the resources to sustain war power/weapons, it is a huge national security threat. What is so hard to understand about that? This is not something I came up with, it is a known fact that not everyone is aware of. The purpose of my post was to help you understand the facts, not to make fun of your post.
You obviously do not understand manufacturing on a large scale or what is needed with tooling or infrastructure to support potential war production.
Please go back to your Toyota forums.
Agh, the UAW is shooting itself in the foot. This is probably the absolute worst time to be striking. GM is trying to cut costs and ready itself for an economic recession. The UAW is crazy if they think GM is going to make major concessions now. The fact that the talks have stalled tell me that GM is serious this time around. Which I actually find encouraging–they are doing what they have to do to survive, and the UAW is just making it difficult. I’m all for unionized labor but in this case, I feel like the UAW is doing more damage than good.
I don’t recall the figure but isn’t it something like $6,000 or $7,000 per car that goes to the UAW? GM pays UAW $63 per hour for the average wage, which is about $10 more than Ford. Now I see why Toyota seeks states with no unions and more part-time employees who get little to no benefits.
how many union members at lordstown drove cruzes vs suvs ?? if you were not buying a cruze you were cutting your own throat.
GM is drowning in labor costs and unprofitable assets, and they’re just trying to eliminate that before drowning in EV development costs. Meanwhile, the UAW is trying to increase GM’s labor spending AND take more of their profits.
All people see and hear is that GM is turning their backs on American workers, but GM is just turning itself towards the future while learning from its past. Turning Lordstown into a EV component plant and cutting Hamtramck is best in the long run for both sides. In a few years, Lordstown could be back to its production capacity with plenty more workers and shifts than before, and new GM models would add jobs/shifts to existing plants, getting them back near capacity. That’s better than having multiple plants running well under 50% capacity permanently. And If the UAW would just let GM use it’s profits to invest in EVs, they’d have a lot more vehicles to allocate to production and assembly plants. GM could possibly even return to the EU and export U.S. built EVs down the road, which would require MORE jobs in the U.S., but it would also require PROFITS to start over in the European market.
Basically, the automotive industry is going to get a lot more expensive in the years to come, and the economy will likely sink a little too. GM can’t be spending MORE money on labor than before until they have EVs to build.
GM’s UAW workers already seem to get better pay and better healthcare than Ford and FCA UAW workers anyways. It also doesn’t hurt that the workers each got $10,000 of GM’s profits as a bonus this past year. A reasonable path from being a new-hire to becoming a senior employee, as well as a broader healthcare plan(to cover any and all work-related issues, including mental, that aren’t already covered), would be logical requests from the UAW. Asking to become a senior worker within a few years or for full healthcare at the current price is ridiculous.
You give GM management much too much credit. Since the Roger Smith days, and after endless restructurings where we heard all the BS about how plants closings and layoffs are best for the long-term future of GM, the company remains one that has lost two-thirds of its market share, and is loosing more a well as its stature as a dominant automaker in the worldwide arena.
The path towards EVs is rocky at best. There is no assurance people will embrace “an all electric future” let alone AVs. In the meantime, GM customers are offered cheap interiors and – with a few exceptions- mediocre product to pay for this black hole.
Regarding embracing the future, GM tired to be a “tech company” in the 1980s and 1990s with the purchase of Hughes and EDS. How did that turn out? Machete Mary is following the same failed formula- roll the dice toward something the customer may or may not embrace, while letting your core products languish in the marketplace vis-à-vis the competition. I’m sorry, I do not find a Cruise AV with ugly hardware attached to the top as compelling as let’s say a new Ford Bronco.
Finally, since the union employees are being dragged through the mud, perhaps it is time to evaluate GM’s top management and if they are really the ones that will lead this company effectively into the future Machete Mary, to her credit, studied all the textbooks well in her time at Stanford. She says the politically right things, goes on PR tours, and says things to excite the analysts on Wall Street. However, Barra is no John DeLorean or Lee Iacocca. She is simply a woman who gets by because she broke the glass ceiling at a major corporation. She is not a product person, and I cannot think of one product that GM has come out with in her tenure that has been a bonafide hit. I have said time and time again that it was a mistake to put a GM lifer in the spot of a CEO for this company. She had 40 years to learn and master all the bad habits of her predecessors. Where is her great leadership now that the company is in a legitimate crises loosing tens of millions of dollars a day? Why isn’t she out there putting a fire under someone’s ass to resolve the strike? Why isn’t she even making a statement to the press?
Since ‘Machere Mary’ has taken rein of GM, GM shares have outperformed Ford by over 40%. GM has completely nailed shift from cars to CUV segment (over a million vehicle and many many models).
She is far more strategic than you will ever be able to realize. Let’s say AVs are a waste of money. Even then, GM has been more strategic by getting enormous 3rd party capital vs. Ford which must fund the AV research by the humongous profit they make from ‘Ford Bronco’.
I am sure Barra has did well in her Strategic Management class at Stanford. But GM and reality are different games altogether. I don’t care where the money to fund failure comes from- it is still failure and the marketplace will decide what is successful and what is not. GM”s stock performance has been enhanced by stock buybacks and cost cutting- not through “gotta have” products that drive revenue.
Actually, in recent years since the bankruptcy GM’s restructuring has paid big dividends and market share is on the rebound unlike Toyota which has steadily been losing market share because of lack of ingenuity, technology, and recalls. They have lost 5% market share in the last 10-years and part of that like GM’s past high majority market share is based on more auto companies selling product.
Union Auto workers have lost many secure jobs to non Union auto workers. Import brands got around unions, which started this problem, and the U.S. Government allowed that to happen. Now that all the import brands have massive factories in Mexico, our Domestic auto companies shouldn’t be allowed to also have factories in Mexico?
Try to do these things in Japan or Germany.
It has been reported that in Japan the Japanese government covers healthcare benefits for their big automakers. Additionally, the three major brands went through their big recession about the same time as the USA and loaned those companies billions of dollars. How many people heard of that? And the Japanese cash for clunkers was exclusively and controversially only for Japanese brand cars.
as someone who bought their first new chevy in 1953. 25 new chebvy cars and trucks since plus 11 new corvettes and am driving a 2018 silverado now and I have not found all these problem posted here. GM builds cars in mexico because mexico has free trade agreements with counties around the world allow these cars to be sold duty free and cars built in the US can not. trump is trying to get rid of these duties around the world and GM would not have to build cars out of the US.
When people have problems they tend to post. When things are going well they don’t.
Those who have problems with their Japanese brand cars accept it as normal or most cars would have that problem. But, when they have a problem with an American brand car they cry foul and use it justify the reason they no longer buy American brand cars.
This strike won’t help the UAW organize transplants.
GM may not survive this if it goes a few more months.
GM can survive very easily. They have $18bn cash in hand (and some additional liquidity). Plus, > $1bn from China (although it is yearly lump sum) and some from Mexico production.
That’s why I think they have taken a tough stand. This is new GM.
I agree, they have to take a stand and can’t be bullied by the UAW in their greedy ways. When there was an agreement a few years ago about the entry level wages they approved a reduction. But, most recently they say because the company is now highly profitable that things should change back to the old way of overpaying employees. And as someone mentioned above now they think a person who has been there a couple years should now be paid at a higher senior level?
Remember those stories (true) about customers/dealers finding beer and pop cans wired into mostly in inaccessible areas of the car which created rattling noises. This was done coming off of UAW assembly lines back in the 1960’s and early 70’s. Now there is gratitude for you!
But it is now the 2010s- people need to get over what the union did back then. Back in the 60s and 70s in the salaried ranks. sexism and sexual harassment was a way of live. I am sure that does not happen as often today either.
Regarding the temporary workers, the agreement was made in 2015 to allow for more temps in order to grow employment and hence UAW membership. They did not bank on GM breaching the contract by “unallocating” plants.
This strike is mostly about GM sending jobs to Mexico and China while closing American factories- not about pay raises and money. I am sure if Lordstown and Hamtramck would have been retooled to produce some of the product that GM is now importing from Mexico, Korea, and China. there would not have even been a strike.
the union is going to learn they are not in charge like they used to be. before the companies did not want to lose out to the other companies sales but that is not as important as making money and staying in business. ram is outselling silverado and the world is not coming to an end and chevy is turning a profit
It will be important. It is a lot harder to get a new customer than it is to keep one you already have. GM saying that they are profitable even though they are losing market share is a fig leaf to mask their shortcomings in the marketplace. Remember, the more vehicles that GM sells, the greater potential there is for profit.
They are not loosing market share. Yes, Ram is currently selling more pickups but overall, GM has been gaining in recent years while others – Hyundai, Toyota have been losing percentages.
That is not correct. GM went bankrupt when it was selling over 12 million vehicles. And it is solidly profitable today at a much less volume. The key is not selling more, the key is selling more desirable vehicles.
True, RAM has gained share, but see what happened to Nissan a few years after they were aggressively moving the metal. Ram’s decision to aggressively increase sales will most likely dilute the brand (not that it is a strong brand anyway among the core truck buyers).
GM is losing market shares in light duty pickup sales to Ram as GM ramps up production of a totally redesigned truck. This has been hampered by the strike and the UAW knows it. This is similar to school teacher unions who wait for an opportune moment to file their grievances whether justified or not. If you look at the auto sales segment last year most companies sales went down from a previous high in 2017. The fact that GM has been gaining, currently 17.4% of the market, since the bankruptcy has shown that they are heading in the right direction. Down in pickups, up in SUV’s and other areas.
Does the UAW’s logic of “comparative fairness” also apply to the nice folks that make the American-made “Footballs” for the NFL? Can they also go on strike because the NFL Commissioner, the NFL Owners and NFL Players make multi-millions of dollars using the very Footballs they made…all while they make comparatively way, way, way less?
It is all about who has the leverage. Pre bankruptcy, UAW had a stranglehold on GM and hence they extracted all the shareholder’s wealth over half a century period. The question is does UAW still have a stranglehold? The outcome of this strike will determine whether this is a new GM that is not hostage to the mighty mighty union.
In many European countries train drivers and doctors have same salaries.
I am 85 and I have seen the unions drive US companies out of business or overseas because of their greed.. these members have to learn that jobs paying $50+K a year to people who are high school grads or drop outs are going away. we have people like fireman and police who risk their lives e very day do not make that kind of money
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