GM employees in the US narrowly ratify new collective agreement

The workers of General Motors (GM) in USA have ratified by a narrow margin, 54.7% in favor and 45.2% against, the collective agreement agreed upon by the union United Auto Workers (UAW) and the company on October 30.

The agreement between the UAW and GM ended a strike that lasted more than six weeks and cost the automaker about $1.3 billion.

According to figures released this Thursday by the UAW, approximately one 55% of the 36,000 GM workers who cast their votes have approved the agreement, which includes a salary increase of 25% spread over the next four years.

Approval of the deal was closer than expected after workers at seven of GM’s 11 assembly plants in the country voted against it.

But the support that the agreement has obtained in the Texas plants of Arlington, with a 60.8% in favor of 3,374 votes cast, has been key for ratification.

Many of the workers at these plants, who have been with the company for years, believe that the agreement reached by their union representatives is more advantageous for new employees than for veterans.

Meanwhile, voting continues between Ford and Stellantis workers to decide on the future of their respective collective agreements, which also include salary increases for the 25% in the next four years.

At Ford, a 66.7% of the 30,783 votes cast so far approve the agreement while in Stellantis the acceptance figure is 66.5%.

UAW President Shawn Fain, who for the first time in the union’s history declared a simultaneous and progressive strike at the three major American manufacturers (GM, Ford and Stellantis), has insisted that the agreement is the best that could be achieved.

Fain has also acknowledged that it is not all that the union wanted to extract from the companies but believes that it prepares the UAW to have more negotiating strength in four years, when the collective agreement approved now expires.