United Auto Workers reaches tentative labor deal with General Motors

Published October 10, 2016

FILE - In this July 13, 2015, file photo, United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams speaks as General Motors CEO Mary Barra, background left, listens during a ceremony to mark the opening of contract negotiations in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

The United Auto Workers has struck a tentative labor deal with General Motors, avoiding a strike that would have dented the company’s U.S. production and clearing the path for members to vote on the proposal, which sets pay and benefits for the next four years.

Union officials didn’t disclose details of the agreement, which was announced minutes before midnight Sunday and covers 52,600 union-represented members at GM. UAW officials, in a statement, said the deal presents “significant” wage gains and job commitments, and provides a road map for entry-level workers to grow into the more senior hourly wage.

UAW officials will brief local union leaders this week, and those leaders will vote Wednesday. Members at GM’s dozens of unionized U.S. factories and facilities will vote shortly after on whether to ratify the deal.

“The new UAW-GM national agreement is good for employees and the business,” said GM’s labor and manufacturing chief Cathy Clegg in a statement. “We developed constructive solutions that benefit employees and provide flexibility for the company to respond to the needs of the marketplace.”

A work stoppage would have threatened GM’s momentum in the U.S., which was evident in the $3.1 billion operating profit it posted last week, mostly on sales of trucks and sport-utility vehicles to Americans emboldened by low gasoline prices.

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