GM President Mark Reuss has issued a new statement addressing the ongoing UAW labor strike and some of the union’s demands. The UAW is currently employing a targeted strike strategy wherein UAW members are staging walkouts at select facilities, rather than at every facility all at once. The UAW strike is now in its sixth day, with walkouts called following the expiration of the previous labor contract at 11:59 p.m. last Thursday. Further walkouts are expected by the end of the week if an agreement is not found.
Per a report from The Detroit News, GM says that the UAW’s targeted strike at the GM Wentzville plant in Missouri has already impacted production at the GM Fairfax plant in Kansas. The GM Wentzville plant produces the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups, as well as the Chevy Express and GMC Savana full-size vans, while the GM Wentzville’s stamping operation provide stamped parts to the GM Fairfax facility, where the Chevy Malibu and Cadillac XT4 are produced.
“It is unfortunate that the UAW leadership’s decision to call a strike at Wentzville Assembly has already had a negative ripple effect, with GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas being idled today and most of its represented team members leaving the plant as there is no work available,” GM said in a statement.
GM is offering the UAW a 20-percent wage hike, an increase that GM President Reuss characterizes as a “record offer.” UAW President Shawn Fain, however, says 20 percent is not enough. Reuss also stated that the UAW was spreading “myths” over what GM could afford and what UAW members earn at GM.
GM President Mark Reuss in 2019
Reuss said that GM’s current offer would bring 85 percent of UAW members’ base wage to roughly $82,000 annually, with some entry-level employees given a maximum rate of $39.24 per hour by the end of a new contract, an increase of 141 percent for some.
The UAW originally requested a 40-percent wage increase, but has since dropped its demand to 36 percent. The UAW is also calling for an end to wage tiers, while GM is proposing a cut to the time it takes to reach the top tier from eight years to four.
The UAW recently published a video denouncing corporate greed and justifying its demands, claiming that GM has increased CEO pay and stock buybacks significantly, while worker pay has more or less stagnated. Reuss, however, says that GM’s net income profit in 2022 was $9.9 billion, while its capital spending in 2023 will be between $11 billion and $12 billion.
“If we don’t continue to invest, we will lose ground – quickly,” Reuss states. “Our competitors across the country and around the world, most of whom are non-union, will waste no time seizing the opportunity we would be handing them.”
In total there are roughly 146,000 autoworkers represented by the UAW, 46,000 of which work at GM. The UAW previously conducted a walkout at GM facilities in 2019.
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Comments
My big fear is that they will strike at an EV plant next, imagine the horrific impact to the car-buying public if that happens…
EV ‘s won’t be missed in fact in the long run ,EV’s will bring GM to its knees.
but at least Mary will have gotten her big kickback from Biden for trying to build them. All in the name of saving the planet.
The problem appears to be EVs. Unions will be impacted by job losses. Auto manufacturers are worried they don’t have enough money to invest in them. The consumer is worried they won’t have the range and charging infrastructure required to make road trips.
All of these concerns would be resolved if we just slowed down the transition process. If everyone pushes too hard and the economy falters, then nobody will be enjoying EVs.
You are spot on…everyone is in a rush to transition to EV’s by the 2030’s, but at the rate we are going, widespread adoption won’t likely be ready until the 2040’s or 2050’s. For me, when you can charge a battery in the same time it takes to fill a car up with gas, you will have my attention. Currently, I can fill my truck up with gas and get 500 miles of highway range in less than 10 minutes…can’t do that with any of the other EV trucks out on the market. The other issue is trying to find enough raw materials to mine in order to keep up with manufacturing millions of batteries per year. None of those processes are green. While there might not be any emissions coming from the tailpipes, the damage that mining nickel and lithium brings is much more harmful to the earth. Biden keeps cutting off oil exploration leases but at the same time, his administration is handing out millions upon millions of dollars to dig for battery raw materials. They just gave $20m to a mining company to explore the 400,000 acres of woodlands in Minnesota and Upper Michigan for potential nickel mines. Even if they find nickel or lithium deposits, it will still be many years before any product is pulled from the ground due to red tape.
Good points Tim. Nobody seems to want to admit it (or even knows it), but the national power grid is not up to the challenge for all of the electric cars either (fine for now, but for how long). We will need to upgrade power generation, power transmission and power distribution, not to mention that many folks will need to upgrade their residential and commercial service panels…especially when you consider that they are going to be pushing/forcing us to switch over to electric heat, electric stoves, electric hot water heaters etc. (gas equivalents of these appliances will be very hard to get after 2030). Also, it is not exactly the best strategy to be pushing solar/wind as the only sources of carbon-free power, since they only work intermittently. While we are doing all of this, spending literally TRILLIONS of dollars, China/India will still be adding copious amounts of coal power plants, far exceeding all of the greenhouse emissions that the US/EU combined will be cutting over the next 10 years. So tell me what we are achieving by rushing all of this into existence???
I’m worried they’re boring appliances (even while catapulting you 0-60 in 1.8 seconds or something).
It appears that GM has moved towards EVs being non-union workforce, or a higher percentage of non-union. Can you blame them? UAW is just getting desperate because their days are numbered.
US legacy auto is doomed. Elon is ROFL’ing at all this news right now.
The UAW should have started with the large SUV plant in Texas. That’s where the money is.
@Midnight Rider
I would imagine that strategically the Union wants to stretch their Strike Fund for a as long as possible if they Strike goes on for the long hual hence they are not going All In as of yet.
That’s where the union’s money is also. if you don’t collect the dues, you can’t pay the strikers. You have to keep the money coming from somewhere.
let them strike. burn this inflated fake market down
Some people don’t care about the collateral damage. The strike hurts a lot people without a strike fund to cover them in the short term.
and whose fault is that?
canadas union reached a deal with ford btw. so it is possible to resolve it fast. but if neither side will learn anything from this then let them both do nothing. i think they (oem, distributors/dealers) are still betting people will spend over msrp on 8 year old junk with 150k on it like 2 years ago. they really THINK that. THAT needs to be sorted and if it takes a prolonged stalemate to show that the market is done for, so be it.
this is way beyond uaw tbh. this is about gauging the consumer and uaw is very correct in saying that much. their demands notwithstanding which is another issue
I’ve worked in dealerships for 45 years. Your ignorance is showing. You know nothing about the car business. I know nothing about manufacturing but I do know how to move product when I get it. Car dealer’s didn’t create the market environment over the last three years. They’ve just tried to navigate their way through it and stay profitable. I’ve seen huge profits and huge losses on individual vehicles. Everyone talks about the over MSRP deals. No one talks about the losses. A few years ago, a two or three thousand dollar loser was an occasional problem. I have seen some $10,000 losers over the last couple of years, in the used car department. Plus, a lot of break even deals. Every dealer currently has a share of inventory just waiting to bleed red ink. This thing is far from being over. If you don’t want to be in the market price stay out of it. Do you really think the laid off clerical worker cares about what happened in Canada? They have no say so about settling a strike. You worry about the consumer being gouged? Consumers shared in the profits. Anyone that sold or traded a vehicle over the last three years gouged someone. If you want someone to blame, look at CarMax and Carvana. They ran the market up. Another thing, no dealer has had their overhead go down over the last three years. If you get one vehicle instead of five. How do you survive without marking up the hot stuff? Obviously, you slept through economics.
a lot of good points here^^
Some car dealers had much bigger increases than other car dealers. My local volume dealer went from Big discounts to either small discounts or MSRP but I never saw them over MSRP on anything that wasn’t the collectors type vehicle.
So yes some were just navigating, and playing the long game. Others try to make a quick buck and I probably going to deal with the aftermath for a while of losing customers.
Yup just saw a 11 year old C class in shop with broken subframe- rotted apart.. getting older vehicles starting to be like 1975 all over again.
The workers are choosing to be in the union and choosing to be on strike. They can’t have their cake and eat it too
Soooo many people would LOVE to make as much as $82,000 a year, especially with benefits like eighteen paid vacation days and five weeks of vacation and profit sharing and much more. People in harder jobs, more physically demanding jobs, who work longer hours would love that, yet here they are calling that insulting! Greed does not look good on you. Meanwhile, your union president is laughing all the way to the bank while leaving you hung out to dry with no contract and some of you no pay because there’s no work for you because other people decided to strike.
How much has the union president earned in the last few years and what has his pay increases looked like?
Why do they continue to go after the big Detroit 3 , what about all of the other manufacturers, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, KIA, Nissan , etc etc that all operate without a union.
Its sad what the union president is trying to do , these big pay increases will only force GM to manufacture more vehicles outside of the US. What he is doing will not result in the auto workers being better off, some may be but more will be out of work!!
I believe that the last president earned 267K last year. Fain is trying to make his mark, at the expense of all the out of work UAW members. Their measly weekly UAW pittance isn’t enough to support their family. It is VERY sad indeed, for everyone this strike effects.
Typical UAW, let’s follow the same tactics and thinking that bankrupt the automakers twenty years ago. There’s no way that can happen again….
Where do all these workers live that an $82,000 BASE salary won’t cut it?
In fantasyland.
That 82k is 4.5 years away, current is 65k orso- and was 60k in 2006. Everything has gone up-in 06 McDonalds was paying about 15-20k/yr now 35+, everything has gone up 20-30%, houses have gone up 150% since 06, that is ok if you have not had to move. Some have had to move 3x, to keep working and maintain healthcare for their families. It is not all about greed.
Think the person who has the best command of the “facts” is going to champion success.
Gm stock is flat since it’s ipo in 2013. Record profits don’t translate to record stock performance. This company is uninvestable in my opinion. The uaw is just trying to get the best deal they can and hold the company ransom. If gm capitulated to their demands, we are back to 2008 where they have an additional 2-3k of cost per vehicle over the competition, so they cut quality to match rinse repeat.
The union is looking at GM stock prices and debts and they are much better off than Ford.
Ford is cash poor and heavy in debt.
But the union likes to leave out how much GM is spending to try to get stuff ready for the future regulations. These investments will keep their union employees employees. If not they will be cut loose.
This is why Marry Barra needs to go. She has put the proverbial eggs in one basket (all electric) and it is killing the company.
Does every every automotive question or article turn into “this is why EVs are bad” for you, no matter how unrelated. Or is it you just don’t understand the problem?
This isn’t an EV issue.
You are wrong ,the EV issue will eliminate jobs in the long run.
Because the production of EV’s has been mandated, and they are extremely costly to produce along with there not being a lot of market demand for them, makes them a big issue going forward. In just 2-3 years, the EV mandate will dig heavily into corporate profits for GM etc., in fact, my guess is that they won’t be making any money at all around that time, or shortly thereafter, making it like 2008 all over again probably in 5 years or less. The UAW is well aware of this, and that is the big reason they are pushing for every penny that they can get now, as they realize when it is time for the next contract, they won’t have any leverage at all. The UAW also knows that many jobs will likely be eliminated because of EV’s within the next 5 years (even more so because of the significant pay increases the UAW is likely to extract). So, yes, EV’s are relevant for discussion here as it relates to the current contract negotiations.
Shut down and lock the doors at all of the plants effected by the striking plants.
Agree, GM should build what they can then shut down more plants as the strike effects them negatively.
Mark reuss. How much do you make?
Something like $12 million a year. Pretty good gig. Lucky your dad was a GM President and got you that job.
How about you be a man and make the sacrifice for GM. pay yourself the same wages that temp make. Only then can you whine about the union demands.
Be careful what you wish for depending what happens long term the company might need to move production to mexico where ten dollars an hour is a fortune to them.
That’s exactly what could happen. Or break up the the company and spin off divisions as non union subsidiaries that supply each other. It’s happened before, Allison Transmission, Allison Engines, Delco Remy, Fisher Body, AC Delco, and etc.
The UAW is forgetting this is not like the old days when it was just the UAW big three to compete with. Now, all the nonunion automakers on our soil have a significant advantage with lower wages and higher profits that can offer much lower vehicle prices, along with more standard options. The UAW could suffer substantial job losses and the plant’s moving to Mexico. The old saying, keep aggravating your boss and he will find a way to replace you.
That would explain the enormous gains a company like Kia and Hyundai has made it’s like every other car on the road is one of these models. I’m not against the getting a raise but have some common sense about your demands. I have relatives working at the BMW plant in South Carolina they can’t build enough of them.
Most places of employment would be lucky enough to get a 5% Increase in Hourly Wages let alone 20%; an increase of 20% could easily put an employee right towards $150k annually over time, even with a family; one could easily live off of that.
Hard to find a Buick that’s made in USA.
How much does an UAW President make? As of Sep 14, 2023, the average annual pay for an UAW President in the United States is $178,659 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $85.89 an hour. This is the equivalent of $3,435/week or $14,888/month.
The Big 3 are in between a rock and a hard place, huge investments into EV’s without any guarantees of short term success, while eliminating the profitable ICE vehicles. Biden is going to destroy the domestic industry, the transition period is too short! The regulations are burdensome and expensive. The contract timing couldn’t be worse, a strike will incur losses that aren’t even factored in yet.
Most of the profits are needed to make investments in restructuring the entire assembly line for EV’s. Competitors will benefit more than anyone in a long strike. The concessions that were given in 2009 will never be recovered, a COLA will help keep pace with inflation. The 1979 UAW contract was reopened in 1981, paid personal holidays (PPH) were given up during the recession. Give the workers more time off, 5 PPH yearly to use in addition to vacation and holidays. It helps keep absenteeism down, a 5% annual raise is feasible and profit sharing. Manufacturers will move more jobs to Mexico if they’re forced to. Eliminating more jobs, ultimately it’s the sustainability of American jobs that matters in the end.