The car manufacturers Stellantis and Ford had already reached an agreement with the auto industry union UAW. At its peak, there were 45,000 UAW members on strike.
In the United States, the car manufacturer General Motors (GM) has reached a preliminary agreement on a new collective agreement with the UAW trade union. General Motors was the last of the three major automakers to continue negotiations with the UAW.
Stellantis and Ford had reached an agreement with the union earlier.
The UAW went on strike in mid-September. At its peak, there were 45,000 UAW members on strike.
The UAW says GM workers will return to work while the deal reached goes through the ratification process.
The strike cost General Motors about 400 million dollars a week, reports the Reuters news agency.
– For weeks we have been saying that record profits mean record contracts. The members of the UAW got them with a strike, rejoiced the president of the union Shawn Fain previously.
With the new agreement, the employees’ basic salaries will increase by 25 percent by 2028. In addition, the highest salary categories will rise cumulatively by 33 percent.
The president of the United States, who took a strong stand on behalf of the auto workers Joe Biden called the agreement historic. He reminded that workers gave up a lot, for example, during the 2009 economic crisis, when the US auto industry was on the verge of collapse.
Biden’s aides feared that a prolonged auto industry strike would hurt both the U.S. economy and Democratic presidential candidate Biden’s chances of being re-elected in the 2024 presidential election.
Sources: AFP, Reuters