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Majority Of Americans Find Latest GM Contract Offer Fair, Poll Shows

According to a recent poll, a majority of Americans view the latest GM contract offer to the United Auto Workers (UAW) to be a fair deal. The new poll results were released last week, with the UAW strike against the Big Three Detroit automakers (GM, Ford, and Stellantis) currently entering its fifth week. GM’s latest contract offer to the UAW includes a 20-percent wage increase over the life of the contract, the inclusion of cost of living allowance (COLA), healthcare benefits, and more.

A UAW union member holds a UAW flag at a demonstration.

The new poll, released by The Harris Poll, was conducted online within the U.S. on behalf of KRC Research between October 4th and October 6th, 2023, and included a sample size of 2,074 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. The poll results indicate that a majority of Americans (56 percent) believe that GM’s latest offer to the UAW is fair, while 14 percent believe it is unfair. Poll results are accurate within ± 2.7 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.

The poll results include 28 percent of poll respondents indicating that the General Motors offer is Completely Fair, while 28 percent indicate that it is Somewhat Fair. Thirty percent indicate a neutral stance, while 14 percent indicate it is either Completely Unfair or Somewhat Unfair.

“These findings contradict prior public opinion surveys because unlike prior polls which simply asked about support for the UAW, the KRC/Harris Poll survey shared what the average UAW-represented team member of a ‘Big Three’ automaker makes today and what they stand to make under GM’s proposed offer,” The Harris Poll states.

The Harris Poll lays out GM’s latest offer to the UAW, which includes $82,000 in wages, $33,000 in bonuses and profit sharing, $23,000 in healthcare benefits, and $12,000 in company-paid retirement contributions, bringing the grand total to $150,000 annually. The previous total compensation is stated as $134,000 a year, including $67,000 in wages, $33,000 in bonuses and profit sharing, $22,000 in healthcare, and $12,000 in company-paid retirement contributions.

In a video update posted October 19th, the Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing and Sustainability, Gerald Johnson laid out General Motors’ latest offer to the UAW. Highlights include a 20-percent wage increase over the life of the contract, with an immediate wage increase to $35.55 per hour for 88 percent of team members, with annual wage increases every year after, with the majority of workers earning $39.24 per hour by the end of the contract. Cost of living allowance will help to offset inflation.

The contract also includes company-paid healthcare with zero monthly employee contributions, no deductibles, full dental and vision coverage, and 100-percent coverage for all medically necessary hospital, surgical, and medical care. On retirement, the General Motors offer includes 8 percent contribution on eligible earnings and a 25-percent increase to cover healthcare costs. Finally, the offer includes up to five weeks vacation time, two weeks of paid parental leave, and between 17 and 20 paid holidays.

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. Is there a breakdown of the $33,000 for bonuses and profit sharing?

    Reply
    1. 1000$ for every billion in profit per year (pre tax) per eligible employee. in 2020 that was about 47000 employees. in 2022 that was down to 42000 or so. cant tell you how they calculate eligibility.

      its not a direct chart too. there is some leeway (complex math ill skip). so if GM made 10bil only 8 bil of those will counts towards profit sharing or 8000$ per eligible employee.

      in 2022 gm made 20bil (almost 21). say we use 18bil rule. thats 18000$ CASH for eligible employee. so if they gross 56000 they will get 18000 on top of that for a total of 74000. thats direct payment, not benefits or stock or other things. thats a cheque you can deposit at your bank.

      Reply
  2. How ,bout asking if it’s way too fair?

    Reply
  3. Those #s are 1000% wrong.. 33,000 in bonuses? The highest amount of bonus for a year I’ve seen is maybe 1/3 of that and the government gets HALF so the bonuses for the year are 13,000 you go home with $7500 of it… 33,000 my fvcking a$$

    Reply
  4. If the UAW wants to run GM, buy it!

    Reply
    1. Nah, from what I understand, Toyota and Honda is next on the menu, it’s hard for me to see Elon Musk allowing Sean Fain to determine how Tesla operations will push ahead during and after a strike, I can see Musk returning a threat by moving operations elsewhere, he’s already done it before.

      Reply
  5. This is way too much for production line jobs. These are not highly skilled work.

    Reply
    1. Some of them didn’t even finish High School, so it’s hard for some of them to understand the math of what they are getting based on the new contract in comparison to what they really want (40%) which would will eventually put them out of a job.

      Reply
  6. UAW worker makes more than an entry level engineer lol

    Reply
    1. Cause an entry level engineer hasn’t work over a decade to get the benefits this incorrect posting shows. The only part that correct is the $82k which definitely isn’t straight 40 hours and the insurance. In my wildest dreams I can’t figure out where the other thousands come from. Maybe their referring to management bonuses. Definitely not any UAW
      labor, skilled or otherwise got a dime more than $12,750 gross profit sharing.

      Reply
    2. That is so true. Right after I graduated from Purdue with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, a long time ago. I walked into a power plant to work on a steam turbine/generator near Gary, In. I soon learned that the guy sweeping the turbine room floor and emptying our trash cans was a union steelworker and he was making more than I was! Furthermore, the secretaries were steelworkers too and being paid very well. Most of those old coal-fired power plants are retired and we all know what happened to the steel mills.

      Reply
  7. I can manage to survive off of $32k per year, the UAW certainly shouldn’t have much to complain about when it comes to this latest offer, they may not get all that they are asking for, but for some, they will certainly get more pay they ever had in a lifetime.

    Reply
  8. I’d rather see bigger increases with profit sharing and bonuses and a small boost in wages. I am assuming that there is a direct link between build quality and company profit, and if so, it would make more sense to incentivize workers to contribute to a high standard of quality. Just increasing wages does nothing to make product better.

    Reply
    1. Agreed, they may get more pay, but the mindsets for some of them will remain unchanged based on how they work and how they feel about their work.

      Reply
  9. Why don’t someone put a price on the medical cost, dental cost and vision cost. Figure that up and what do you have? If you have to buy that out of your pocket I would be afraid to guess what it would cost. I have to pay for 3 different policies just on myself. I pay $325 a month and I have no dental or vision. Sometimes you have to think about things like this.

    Reply
    1. I’m a retired Steelworker who worked in the iron min s in n Minnesota. We were always behind the steel mills in the ages and benefits. I have been retired for 15 years and I get by with living within my means. Common sense, that’s all.

      Reply
    2. Exactly, average Dental Cleaning can easily run up to $700.00

      Reply
  10. Majority of Americans? Nobody asked me or my neighbor or my co-workers, or the guys at my weekly poker game, or…. Oh, GM says it’s fair? Now I get it. Of course. GM must be right.

    Reply
  11. Where do I sign up! Now I see why the automakers out source a lot of things to outside vendors when they used to make it themselves. That’s why they make a third of there products in Mexico or Korea!

    Reply
    1. Lopez,
      Where are these numbers pulled from, source? Or is this click bait?

      Reply
  12. Will these poor people even be able to buy groceries weekly or will they have to go to food banks…????

    Reply
  13. How many people were polled siding with UAW? I never got a survey, nor anyone I know. Greed is a horrible thing, this didn’t get broken in one contract. Considering I’m Union and make crap, this is a great offer. Free insurance, that’s extremely expensive on its own. Maybe the auto companies should stop paying healthcare and let the UAW do it. As long as they get their 40% increase, they don’t care whose lives they ruin. Unions are greedy. What about the next 4 years? Are you gonna break the companies? Maybe auto will go under or outsource and that will cause you all to rethink not being able to live on 82,000 a year with free health care and a 401k contribution from the company. Why do they want the tiers gone? I’ve been doing the same job for 10 years and the new hires are making the same as me because the union thought everyone deserved the same. People who have no experience at all. Entitlement at its finest.

    Reply

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