United Auto Workers (UAW) officially suspended this Monday the strike that it had maintained in the United States since September 15 against General Motors (GM), Ford and Stellantis after reaching a “historic” victory for workers.

The third and final agreement, with GM, was announced this Monday simultaneously by the presidents of the UAW, Shawn Fain, and the automaker, Mary Barra. Fain declared in a video posted on social networks that the provisional agreement, which now has to be ratified by the workers, was reached in the morning.

“Once again, we have won a series of incredible victories“, he stated. “Now that we have an innovative provisional agreement with GM, we are officially suspending our strike against the Big Three (GM, Ford and Stellantis),” added the union leader. For her part, GM president and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement that the company was satisfied with this pact “which reflects the contributions of workers” while allowing the manufacturer to continue investing in the United States.

The existence of the agreement had been announced hours before by the president of the United States, Joe Bidenwho revealed this Monday that the negotiations had indeed reached a successful conclusion after months of meetings.

“I just talked to (UAW President) Shawn Fain. They have reached a historic agreement with GM, Ford and Stellantis. A great agreement fought with intensity,” he declared. When Fain explained to his members on Sunday the content of the agreement signed with Ford on October 25, and which was followed on Saturday by that of Stellantis, the UAW president also described it as historic. the concessions wrested from companies.

Biden stated that the new collective agreements with the three big Detroit manufacturers “They reward workers who accepted big concessions to keep the sector going during the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

What have they achieved?

The agreements involve 25% salary increases better retirement benefits, more facilities for temporary workers to become permanent workers in less time and investments of billions of dollars in new plants in the US. They also give the Detroit Big Three labor peace for the next four years.

The strike has cost around 200 million dollars (about 188 million euros) a week to each of the three manufacturers, between 1,200 and 1,300 million dollars in total during the six weeks of dispute. Michelle Fecteau, director of the Center for Labor and Community Studies at the University of Michigan, told EFE that the new collective agreements negotiated by the UAW are “very positive” for employees.

Fecteau highlighted that UAW He has not achieved everything he had put on the tablesuch as the 40% salary increase with which the negotiation began, but applauded the leadership of Fain, who became president of the UAW earlier this year, when the union was immersed in a serious crisis of credibility due to the corruption of some of its former leaders.

“The workers receive only crumbs”

“We didn’t know whether to trust Fain and what his new strategy would end up achieving, but I think he has shown that It has been quite accurate“He added. Upon becoming president of the UAW, Fain adopted an aggressive plan that culminated on September 15 with the start of the first simultaneous and progressive strike in the union’s history against the Big Three of Detroit.

The implications of the union victory could be felt throughout the United States at a time when there is growing interest among workers to recover what they have lost for years, especially when the salary difference with respect to executives has skyrocketed.

“There is a general feeling throughout the country that workers are getting only crumbs. While the wealth of billionaires and billionaires increases, salaries have been frozen. Especially after COVID-19, when many workers risked their lives,” Fecteau explained.

“People are saying it’s not fair and the UAW strike has had immense support among the general population. That’s why we’ve seen more, bigger strikes. I think (the success of the UAW protest) can encourage people to join unions,” concluded the expert in labor studies.