The United Auto Workers has accused Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between GM and battery supplier LG Energy Solution, of attempting to stifle efforts to organize the workforce at its new plant in Ohio.
Ultium Cells LLC plant
UAW Vice President Terry Dittes sent a letter to other union leaders regarding the Ultium Cells LLC workforce this week, which was viewed by CNBC. The letter indicated Ultium Cells LLC has “flat out rejected” a request for UAW members to enter its Ohio plant and collect organizing cards from its employees. Organizing cards are signed documents that indicate to union officials that workers wish to be represented by their organization.
“This process has been agreed to by many employers for a smooth and peaceful recognition of the UAW,” the letter said, as quoted by CNBC. “Ultium flat out rejected those simple basic features of a card check recognition we proposed.”
The publication reached out to a spokesperson for Ultium Cells LLC, who said the company is supportive of the process that allows our people to determine their own representation status, which is a matter of personal choice.” The company also acknowledged that it has had “initial discussions around a Neutrality Agreement that could enable a card check process,” at the Warren, Ohio plant.
GM CEO Mary Barra said previously that Ultium Cells LLC jobs would follow the automaker’s pay structure for its components plants, which typically pay less than vehicle assembly lines. Top wages at a GM component plant sit at around $17 per hour, which is far below the $31 per hour top wage earned by union-represented employees.
Last June, GM executive vice president for global manufacturing, Gerald Johnson, said the automaker is “supportive of the UAW,” and appeared to express support for worker organization at its Ultium Cells facilities.
“We expect we will work together with the UAW going forward in these sites,” he said at the time.
GM CEO Mary Barra
The automaker also expressed strong support for the union in a statement sent to The Detroit Free Press last spring.
“GM will build on a long history of supporting unions to promote safety, quality, training and well-paying jobs for American workers,” the automaker said at the time. “Both GM and Ultium Cells LLC respect workers’ right to unionize and the efforts of the UAW to organize battery cell manufacturing workers.”
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Comments
That’s just what they need. The union to handicap Ultium before it even gets off the ground.
What you’ll see is a new Ultium Factory open up in Mexico or China shortly after this site becomes unionized.
There’s no chance they can pay union assembly rates and still make money on anything short of the most premium vehicles.
I would expect Cadillac and Hummer will have US batteries, the rest won’t, unless they can negotiate a realistic pay schedule.
Unions don’t handicap anything: Ask VW and old PSA who have much more powerful unions due to European policies yet are both immensely successful companies who regularly get praise for good products. Former VW CEO Piech used to meet for German unikn head weekly for recreation & are known to gave a solid friendship because over there unions haven’t been scapegoated by crappy management, used as an excuse for everything from poor sales to inferior build quality. In fact VW USA didn’t try to fight unionization efforts in Tennessee and it was scared, brainwashed workers who believed a union equalled eventual unemployment.
Unions built the US middle class. That middle class is disappearing and as it does we blame China, workers, Mary Barra, Trump, Biden, NAFTA when the biggest culprit has been the death of unions.
Unions certainly aren’t hurting the Japanese and Korean brands. They are still able to produce a quality, reasonably priced vehicle thanks to not having one.
VW or the European brands are a good example of not being able to do that.
Generally, the European labor unions work with the company and work things out to the satisfaction of both. The UAW and the old CAW was out to make sure they put the company in their place with stoppages, silly demands, and an attitude of “workers of the world, unite against these evil capitalist pigs!”
One tends to play down to one’s opponent. In Europe, automakers don’t see workers as necessary evils. The “us vs. them” thing is much stronger here in the U.S. For every “silly demand” made by workers here, I’m pretty sure one could find a similarly silly demand by the “capitalist pigs” (ventured away from the ’60s much? You should try it…).
No on all counts. Pro-unions line the pockets of the lazy sleezy crooked union leaders and lazy workers who need protection. The average worker does not need unions.
Unions are simply another business who’s job is to extort the unionized business. They had their place 100 years ago, not today.
You mean GM is trying to prevent the UAWs smooth transition of a hostile takeover?
I’d tell them to pound sand too.
GM Is making record profits wages have been flat since Reagan . The only morons that don’t want Union wages and benefits are the stupid people who worked away their futures at sh*t wages. jealous broke Morons. I made more money in 1978 then they pay today. UAW has your back GM breaks your back.
You got it! Made my point with fewer words. America has been brainwashed by CEOs, politicians, and Wall Street into blaming unions for everything from poor quality, higher prices to falling market share when these things were the fault of bean counters and investors. (The Right even brainwashed smucks into thinking they are part of the investor class with a tiny 401K).
Middle Class is dying and we’ve got average Americans helping along the process. Keep this up and our economy will resemble that of Mexico, Columbia, Philippines or Russia in 20 years!!
Try learning more and listening less because you are full on union brainwashed.
Falling quality is due to the entitled workers being lazy and thinking their only job is to show up, complain, demand more and get paid mixed with some corporate greed and cheapening out on parts.
It’s just a broken system of greed on the corporate, union and worker sides.
Full in on the propaganda I see. Union workers make 25-30 an hour. That’s more than fair for unskilled labor.
No one is breaking their back at a GM or Ford assembly line. I doubt most break a sweat.
They’re making record profits for the first time ever (that’s why they’re called record profits after-all) because of a high demand low supply situation. Sure lets over-inflate the basic work they do so the prices of cars stays at record high levels.
Here in lies the problem with unions … times have changed since unions were established and actually provided a service to employees. At some point, they got too greedy and expected too much from companies. Do you really think someone off the job for 2 years deserves full pay and benefits when they’re fired? These days, you have to pay in for insurance to cover long-term disability! Yes, maybe GM and others under pay their employees, but I’m sure there were plenty of people making a far higher wage than a college graduate was. They’re minimum wage jobs for a reason, because for many of them, you could almost train a chimpanzee to do the work. Only problem with that is that it takes longer (too much money) to train a chimp than a person. Thank the current administration for creating the “entitlement” age by paying people more money to stay home and collect a check rather than actually having to work for one. Then they wonder why nobody wants to go back to work? They pretty much unionized the country, and now we have record inflation to go along with it.
If gm is concerned about wages they can start at the beer can on the Detroit River!
17 $ an hr . really? taco bell is paying 21$ an hour.
I’m poor areas like Ohio or michgian, it makes sense to only pay them 17.
What’s I’m poor areas mean?
Where are they getting $21 an hour? Manhattan?
But Taco Bell is a good example. That’s who you’re competing with for low skilled labor.
If the minimum wage isn’t enough, then raise it to something reasonable. You shouldn’t need a union for that. This isn’t the 1930s.
Ultium is the new Fisher Body who’s name was stamped on every GM model well into the 1980s. My guess gas been that Ultium was a branding exercise for Wall Street & the auto press so that it would be a comparison between Ultium’s new Lyriq or Hummer vs Tesla because the GM brand has taken a beating, not viewed as innovative, in my lifetime. Long-term I don’t think a Union lock out will be possible but with our courts going more conservative one never knows anymore.
Cruise will face similar problems. It’s controlled by GM with other investors like Honda and Soft Bank involved but it’s technology will be key to autonomous vehicles provided it can keep up. It probably should have been spun off as Dan Ammerman (sp?) Wanted because Cruise value will eventually drop as it’s technology becomes commonplace.
Ever wonder if one day GM will flip it’s name to Ultium or Cruise? An image change would help the company on the coastal population centers where only Tahoe, Suburban and Yukon really doe well aside from trucks. I just don’t see a Chevrolet doing well in LA or Boston regardless of how good it is. Unfortunately same goes for Cadillac.
$17/hr is the ceiling? is that a missprint? has ohio turned into a 2nd world country where that is a decent wage?
That is a misprint. The pay is supposed to top out at 22.50. However, it takes eight years of employment to get there.
Good!!! EVs are already super expensive and keeping battery costs down by not unionizing is awesome!
Over the past two years GM UAW workers have received approximately $19K in profit sharing checks.
You get what you pay for.
Why not use 3rd World child labor so Mary Barra will be the only person paid excessive wages?
Quit crying and apply then!
19k not hardly. Profit sharing is paid by hours worked to get the reported amount that is release to the media. With the conductor problem and covid not all employees got max pay outs. They get a percentage.
Wait, so their pay was based on how much they worked? CRAZY!!!!!
How terrible of GM to pay hourly workers based on how often they worked.
Unions just protect those who don’t want to work and prevent efficient manufacturing. Might as well just call it welfare… Most union people just wanna show up and get paid for taking up space. I’ve never paid my union dues and glad I have not.
G.M. now supporting a union that will surely lead to higher costs to company and consumers…talk about getting cucked.
Mary Barra deserves her $35 Million Dollar package . . .
Every woman CEO that can Lie as good as her male counterparts deserves to be paid equally.
Labor is a tiny part of vehicle cost. Build a truck in Mexico at $3/hr and build the same truck in Indiana at $31/hour. The cost might vary by $1500 . Mary Barra absconds with something like $23m in salary, enough to pay an entire battery plant of actual workers. Add her top layer of henchmen and lackeys and you will see that hourly wages are not the big contributor to bottom line results. It’s executive salary and the impact of wasteful decisions that wreck the math. I have no love for uaw but gm tactics here are disgraceful.
UAW ?? Why not the IBEW ?
Because they screwed the local workforce when Packard Electric folded.
This article has incomplete information. It states that GM components handling company, or GMCH, pay tops out at $17/hr. This is the base rate of pay under the UAW contract. Top pay is $22.50 after eight years of service. Mary Barra stated that the pay scale for Ultium would be the same as GMCH sites.
Ultium only pays 16.50 hr, top out after 5 years at 19.75. Ultium is going to be very profitable for GM and LG. Make the wages livable! These are highly technical machines people will be running the pay should be better.
I was referring to the UAW pay scale per the last national contract. So, it seems you either take less top pay in a shorter time frame, or accept the UAW and get paid more but work longer to get there.