The United Auto Workers union (UAW) said last Saturday that it would raise strike pay by $25 per week to $275. The action will involve 48,000 hourly workers from General Motors Co (GM.N) as their strike from the most prominent U.S. automaker close to reaching the end of its fourth week.
Both sides said that negotiations were proceeding until late Saturday to ease things out and fix the longest nationwide strike against the company since 1970.
UAW also noted that it would permit members to have part-time jobs. The union won’t reduce their strike pay as long as the members still attend to their picket-line responsibilities. The hike on the strike pay was formerly decided to be raised on Jan. 1.
Also, last Saturday, the details of the revamped GM contract offer surfaced. A person was briefed about the matter, verifying that GM has raised its intended ratification bonus to $9,000, coming from the initial $1,000.
The person also confirmed that the largest automaker company in the U.S. had proposed pay raise equivalent to 3% during the second and fourth quarters of the contract valid for four years. Then, 3% and 4% lump sum payments can also be expected, respectively.
GM agreed to move temporary workers to permanent status after three years of being in service and get a $3,000 upon signing of their contract. Around 7% of the company’s hourly workforce is composed of temporary workers.
The features of the revamped contract offer by U.S. automaker that surfaced this week was first seen on a Flint, Michigan-based ABC-TV affiliate’s Facebook page. A commenter posted a screenshot of the details. It not sure if the U.S. automaker has then revised the proposal.
GM asked UAW employees earnestly in a blog post last Friday, laying out its recent offer and looking to end the strike. The post, however, drew an angry response from the union stating that the company is seemingly starving workers off the picket lines.
In the same blog post, GM said that the conflict has already cost them more than $1 billion, and the company also had to idle around 10,000 employees in Canada and Mexico. The company also ceased operations in North America.
The UAW strike started last Sept. 16, as the union heeds for a wage increase, stronger job security, a larger share of the profit, and better healthcare privileges. Credit Suisse anticipates that the loss could reach $1.5 billion. The Center for Automotive Research, meanwhile, estimates the weekly costs to GM at $450 million and $12 million for the UAW strike fund.
GM, in its revised offer, raised the amount it intends to invest in the country to around $9 billion from the initial $7 billion offer. The UAW already provided a counterproposal last Friday.
Of the new investment total, about $7.7 billion would be spent directly on GM plants. The remaining $1.3 billion would be invested in joint ventures such as the possible battery plant near the company’s Lordstown, Ohio factory, which has been idled at the moment.
