Tag Archive for: General Motors

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Autoworkers Score Major Victory in Tennessee as GM Announces $4 Billion Reinvestment in U.S. Plants

Spring Hill, TN – In a historic move signaling a shift in the American auto industry, General Motors announced a $4 billion reinvestment across three U.S. plants—including a major investment in its Spring Hill facility in Tennessee. The move brings thousands of good union jobs back to the South and underscores the rising power of autoworkers in a region long written off by corporate America.

“This is a big deal for Spring Hill,” said UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith. “For decades, corporations offshored jobs and left blue-collar communities behind. But now, because of worker organizing and fair-trade policies like auto tariffs, GM is finally putting money back where it belongs—in union plants, with American workers.”

The UAW has long called for an end to the unfair trade practices that allowed automakers to offshore U.S. jobs, slash wages, and shutter dozens of once-thriving plants. More than 2 million vehicles a year have disappeared from American production lines over the last decade, while factories across Mexico and low-wage regions flourished under an exploitative trade system.

“Southern workers have always had the skill, the pride, and the fight—it’s just the companies that needed to end their race to the bottom,” said UAW Local 1853 President John Rutherford. “This investment in Spring Hill will mean more people with access to great wages and benefits and the protections of a union contract.”

Spring Hill is already home to a growing UAW membership, and workers there played a key role in last year’s Stand Up Strike, which won historic gains in wages and job security.

“Spring Hill has always delivered,” said UAW Local 1853 Chairman Jason Spain. “Now we’re getting the chance to use our extra capacity to build even more. The Blazer’s coming to Spring Hill, and we’re fired up to get to work.”

The UAW continues to call for a broader industrial strategy that includes strong trade protections, enforceable labor standards across borders, and an end to Wall Street-driven profit hoarding. The union’s demands include:

  • Tariffs on imported vehicles and parts to prevent job offshoring.
  • A renegotiated USMCA with a North American minimum wage and enforceable labor rights.
  • Reshoring of the parts supply chain and domestic manufacturing investment.
  • A ban on stock buybacks and greater reinvestment in American workers.

The UAW leaders say this investment by GM is a step in the right direction—but there’s much more work to do. To truly end the race to the bottom, we need enforceable protections for workers both in the U.S. and abroad. That means real rights on the job, the freedom to assemble and organize, and strong unions across borders. Trade policy without labor rights is just corporate welfare—and we won’t settle for that.

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Autoworkers Score Major Victory as GM Reinvests Billions in U.S. Plants Following Auto Tariffs

General Motors announced yesterday it will invest $4 billion over the next two years across three U.S. plants in Michigan, Kansas, and Tennessee—bringing thousands of good union jobs back to the U.S.

This announcement marks a turning point in the long fight to reverse the damage caused by NAFTA and decades of so-called “free trade.” As auto tariffs help drive the return of production to the U.S., we’re beginning to undo the harm inflicted on blue-collar communities by policies that offshored jobs and gutted local economies.

By raising wages at GM globally, this shift signals the beginning of the end of the race to the bottom—where workers are forced to compete across borders over how little they can survive on, while corporations rake in billions.

“GM’s decision to invest billions in American plants and prioritize U.S. workers is exactly why we spoke up in favor of these auto tariffs,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “The writing is on the wall: the race to the bottom is over. We have excess manufacturing capacity at our existing plants, and auto companies can easily bring good union jobs back to the U.S. They can prove the naysayers wrong by investing in our communities and putting workers before corporate greed. GM is showing that it can be done.”

The UAW has long called for an end to the unfair trade practices that allowed automakers to offshore U.S. jobs, slash wages, and shutter dozens of once-thriving plants. More than 2 million vehicles a year have disappeared from American production lines over the last decade, while factories across Mexico and low-wage regions flourished under an exploitative trade system.

“The UAW has always stood up for job security—and we are seeing results. In just the past two months, GM has announced five major investments in American auto plants. That’s no coincidence. Skilled UAW members in Michigan, Kansas, Tennessee, and beyond are the reason GM turns a profit,” said UAW Vice President Mike Booth. “It’s great to see the company reinvest in the union workforce that makes it all possible. Our members show their American Spirit and pride in building the world-class vehicles and components that keep this industry strong—right here at home.”

As the auto industry shifts its supply chains and capital investment back to the U.S., the UAW continues to push for a robust industrial policy:

  • Strong tariffs on imported vehicles and parts to stop the offshoring of jobs.
  • Renegotiation of USMCA, including enforceable labor standards and a North American minimum wage.
  • Reshoring of the auto parts supply chain to ensure American manufacturing up and down the supply chain.
  • Federal support to protect and create good auto jobs, not corporate giveaways.
  • An end to stock buybacks and profit hoarding, so auto companies reinvest in jobs, wages, and U.S. manufacturing instead of enriching executives and Wall Street’s investor class.

Today’s announcement is a clear sign that with the right trade policies and worker-led organizing, the U.S. can rebuild its auto industry to work for working-class Americans—not just Wall Street. The announcement comes on top of GM’s nearly $1 billion investment in Tonawanda Propulsion and its $579 million investment at Flint Engine Operations. The Flint commitment was secured in the union’s 2023 national contract through the membership’s historic Stand Up Strike.

“We’ll work with anyone—Democrat, Republican, or independent—who’s serious about ending the ‘free trade’ disaster and building an economy that respects working-class people,” said Fain. “But let’s be clear: tariffs without worker power just mean bigger paydays for the boss. Tariffs increase profits—but only unions increase wages. Tariffs can protect an industry. Only unions can protect workers.”

This investment is a step in the right direction—but there’s much more work to do. To truly end the race to the bottom, we need enforceable protections for workers both in the U.S. and abroad. That means real rights on the job, the freedom to assemble and organize, and strong unions across borders. Trade policy without labor rights is just corporate welfare—and we won’t settle for that.

Ending offshoring and rebuilding the auto industry also means policies that help the entire working class: a strong National Labor Relations Board, secure retirements through Social Security, guaranteed health care through Medicare and Medicaid, and dignity on and off the job. This is how we ensure today’s gains become tomorrow’s standard—not just for autoworkers, but for all working-class people.

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UAW Celebrates GM’s Nearly $1 Billion Investment in Tonawanda Propulsion

TONAWANDA, NY– Yesterday, General Motors announced an additional $888 million investment in its Tonawanda Propulsion plant. For months, union leaders have been in active discussions with GM to advocate for increased investment in its UAW facilities. The investment will support the company’s next generation V-8 engines which are used in full-size trucks and SUVs.

“This enormous investment is exactly what we’ve been calling for,” said UAW Vice President Mike Booth. “Skilled UAW members, like members of UAW Local 774, make GM’s profits, so it’s great to see the company investing back into its union workforce so we can keep building quality, world-class products.”

“It’s time for Ford and Stellantis to learn from GM,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “GM is showing that it makes good business sense for major corporations to reverse course on the destructive race-to-the-bottom trade policies that have wreaked havoc on workers and destroyed blue-collar towns and cities across America.”

The announcement comes on top of GM’s $579 million investment to build the same V-8 engine at Flint Engine Operations, represented by UAW Local 659. That earlier commitment in Flint was secured in the union’s 2023 national contract through the membership’s historic Stand Up Strike.

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UAW Statement on Mexico’s SINTTIA Organizing Drive at GM San Luis Potosí

The right to have a voice on the job—to shape your future, your working conditions, and your livelihood—is a basic human right. That right includes the freedom to form and join a union, free from coercion or interference. The UAW stands in solidarity with SINTTIA and the workers at General Motors’ San Luis Potosí plant as they exercise that fundamental right.

We applaud SINTTIA’s official filing to represent GM employees in San Luis Potosí, validated by the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registry. Since the previous union failed to legitimize its contract under Mexico’s 2019 labor reform, this plant has been without union representation. SINTTIA’s leadership offers a real opportunity to restore democratic representation and win meaningful improvements for autoworkers.

SINTTIA’s record in Silao—where it won double-digit raises and inspired gains across GM Mexico—shows the power of independent unionism. But that power is now under threat. We are alarmed by credible reports of GM management colluding with a protection union to block SINTTIA, including misuse of personal data and illegal on-the-job campaigning.

These violations of labor rights and USMCA trade rules must not stand. The UAW calls on all allies to support SINTTIA and defend the workers’ right to choose.

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New UAW Analysis Shows U.S. Can Create Tens of Thousands of Auto Jobs Using Existing Capacity

Detroit, MI — Today, the UAW released a new deep-dive report, Unlocking the Potential of U.S. Auto Manufacturing Capacity, revealing that America’s auto industry has the infrastructure and skilled workforce to build millions more vehicles — and create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs — if companies invest at home instead of offshoring production and funneling more money to Wall Street.

In 2024, the United States had the capacity to manufacture over 14.7 million vehicles at active, existing plants, but produced only 10.2 million, leaving 4.5 million units of unused capacity. Plants across the country are underutilized because of high-exploitation race to the bottom practices that kill U.S. jobs and suppress wages for workers overseas, with the difference going straight to Wall Street.

Instead of using existing capacity, the Big Three and the rest of the auto industry loot the Rust Belt for stock buybacks and special dividends. Revitalizing the auto industry’s dormant capacity could create up to 90,000 new U.S. auto manufacturing jobs in short order, according to UAW estimates.

“We don’t need to break ground on a single new plant to rapidly grow auto manufacturing capacity — it’s already right in front of us, in the plants we’ve built, the skills of our members, and the communities that depend on these jobs,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Instead of offshoring jobs to low-wage, high-exploitation countries, auto companies must invest here at home and rebuild the middle class with union labor.”

The analysis shows that major automakers — GM, Ford, Stellantis, and Volkswagen — have steadily cut U.S. production even as they expanded output in Mexico. Since 2015, these companies have reduced annual U.S. vehicle production by 1.8 million units, hitting communities nationwide with plant closures, layoffs, and underutilized facilities.

“The working class built the auto industry — and we’re ready to build its future,” Fain continued. “Auto companies should be using this moment to scale up and add good jobs by investing in workers instead of Wall Street.”

View the full report here: https://uaw.us/ExcessCapacityPaper

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GM Department Update from UAW Vice President Booth

UAW GM members,

I hope the new year finds you well. As we continue building a more militant, fighting, and transparent union, I plan to provide regular updates in 2025 on the activities of the GM Department.

Record Profit Sharing

In January, GM announced it will deliver a record profit-sharing payout of $14,500 to eligible workers on February 28, 2025. I want to congratulate the membership on this news. As always, you performed beyond all expectations. Your skillfulness made the company’s profit possible.

There have been questions regarding temporary workers’ eligibility to receive the profit-sharing payout, and I would like to clarify where things stand. Per our 2023 collective bargaining agreement, all temporary workers, both full-time and part-time, are eligible for profit-sharing. This is the first time temporary workers at the Big Three have been eligible for the profit-sharing plan since its inception. 

Raising the Standard for Our Members at GM Sanitation

Your UAW GM Department has contracts with ten sanitation companies that service our worksites, and I’m happy to share that we just locked in the final one with Hydrochem.

We’ve made great progress in winning economic justice for our members at these sanitation companies in recent years, and the agreement with Hydrochem is no different. By the end of the new contract, our wage floor across our UAW-represented sites will be raised from less than $18 an hour to more than $26 per hour. Some sanitation workers will make as much as $40-plus an hour by the end of the agreement. Thanks to our members’ solidarity and our negotiators’ resilience, we’re raising the bar for all GM sanitation workers.

Second Round of SAP Successfully Completed

In January, we successfully concluded the second round of the Special Attrition Program (SAP). Congratulations to these members on a well-earned retirement. I want to shout out our members who walked the picket lines for six weeks during our Stand Up Strike in 2023 so that we could win hard-fought gains like this improved SAP. It’s important to note that we don’t anticipate another SAP opportunity until 2026.

Job Security

Your UAW GM Department leadership understands that these are uncertain times: Federal policies are changing and tariffs may affect our industry. Under our 2023 agreement, GM agreed to build electric vehicles at several of our facilities, including Fairfax Assembly, where many UAW members are temporarily laid off while the plant retools.  Our department regularly meets with GM and is requesting information from the company about its plans at Fairfax and other potentially affected plants. We will keep your local leadership updated as more information becomes available. Enforcing our contract and protecting our jobs is my highest priority.

In solidarity,
Mike Booth
Vice President and Director

UAW General Motors Department

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To Commemorate “White Shirt Day,” UAW Challenges Michigan Lawmakers to Commit to a Working-Class Agenda, Reject Corporate Influence

FLINT – Today, the UAW is challenging Michigan state politicians to join union members in the annual commemoration of “White Shirt Day.” This annual tradition honors the legacy and courage of the auto workers who organized the 1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike – whose victory reshaped the future of the working class. 

In a letter distributed to lawmakers in Lansing, the UAW encouraged their participation in White Shirt Day’s time-honored practice of wearing a white shirt on February 11. The white shirts send a message that the workers who build the cars deserve the same respect and dignity as those in corporate offices. 

A PDF of the letter can be accessed and downloaded here: 

DOWNLOAD LETTER

The UAW is taking participation in White Shirt Day as more than a symbolic gesture. By wearing a white shirt on February 11, lawmakers aren’t just making a statement – they’re committing to action on priorities laid out in the notice, including to:  

  • Guarantee strong wages and labor protections for every worker to earn a fair living. 
  • Strengthen healthcare affordability, access to critical and preventative medical care. 
  • Enhance retirement security to give workers comfort of one day retiring with dignity. 
  • Promote a healthier work-life balance so workers have time to tend to their real lives. 
  • Hold corporations accountable when they take tax breaks but leave workers behind. 
  • Combat divide-and-conquer tactics seeking to pit communities against one another. 

“For 44 days, General Motors workers endured the full-throated force of corporate greed,” the letter reads. “They faced constant threats to their lives and families and even real violence. But these autoworkers had no choice but to endure – their entire livelihoods were at stake. 

“The GM workers recognized 88 years ago that their strongest tool to leverage against even the most formidable of forces was solidarity. With a united rank-and-file, workers held the line – until they won.” 

The letter ends with a direct call-to-action from the UAW to Michigan legislators: “Michigan’s over 350,000 active and retired UAW members are ready to fight alongside elected officials who fight for the working class. Now is the time to show them whose side you’re on.” 

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Statement from UAW Vice President Mike Booth on Update of the GM Special Attrition Program (SAP)

As you may know, our 2023 contract provides multiple opportunities for retiring pension-eligible GM workers to receive a $50,000 benefit. This benefit is called the Special Attrition Program, or SAP. We were successful in negotiating this benefit because of the solidarity of our members standing strong while we were at the bargaining table. We all owe a debt of gratitude to those retiring members who came before us.  

The second round of SAP is currently open. Everyone who is retirement eligible as of March 31, 2025 is eligible for this round of SAP. The application window opened on Thursday November 22, 2024 and closes on January 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST. 

We continue to improve the SAP. In our first round, all 1,412 GM production workers who signed up received the benefit. However, of the 545 skilled trades workers who expressed interest in taking the SAP, only 142 were eligible in the first window. Our Skilled Trades members wanted more, and we delivered. In this round, anyone who is eligible and applies will receive the benefit, including all skilled trades and production workers. 

There is some important information that I want everyone considering the SAP to keep in mind. This is the only SAP opportunity we anticipate for 2025 and do not expect another round of SAP until 2026, at the earliest. Applications for SAP are made online through Workday. You can apply for SAP and withdraw your application multiple times during the application window. However, if you have not withdrawn your decision by January 5th at 11:59pm, you will be required to retire. Once the window closes, your decision is final. If you have any questions about the SAP benefit, please direct them to your Local Union Bargaining Committee. 

I want to thank our negotiating team for their work on this round of SAP and also our membership for securing such a strong contract. Our SAP at GM is unique because it has multiple rounds, with more members becoming eligible at each round.  This means far more GM workers will be eligible to receive the $50,000 SAP. The size, scope, and timing of each phase of the SAP has to be negotiated. Our team is getting results.  

In solidarity,

UAW Vice President Mike Booth 

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UAW Statement on JD Vance Refusing to Commit to Investments in Michigan Auto Plants

Donald Trump was the job-killer-in-chief while in the White House. His failed United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement—or Trump’s NAFTA as we prefer to call it—has led to the mass exodus of good, blue-collar jobs from the United States.  

In sharp contrast, the Biden/Harris Administration has bet on the American worker and thanks to their policies, hundreds of thousands of good manufacturing jobs are returning to the United States.  

Now, Trump and JD Vance are invading Michigan and threatening the $500 million investment the Biden-Harris administration made in the General Motors Grand River Assembly Plant and the union jobs that investment would provide.  

The bottom line is that Donald Trump and JD Vance are a menace to the working class and are openly threatening to double down on Trump’s legacy of job destruction.  

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New UAW Video Marks Anniversary of Historic “Stand Up” Strike Against Big Three Automakers and Significant Victories Since

Today, the UAW released a new video marking the one-year anniversary of one of the most consequential union campaigns in recent history. At midnight on September 15, 2023, thousands of workers walked out at plants at each of the Big Three automakers, launching the historic “Stand Up” strike.

The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage.  

“When we went on strike on September 15, the Big Three had a combined $12 billion in new gains on the table for our union,” narrates UAW President Shawn Fain. “By the end of our Stand Up strike, that amount had grown to over $23 billion. The Big Three nearly doubled the money on the table.”

The video highlights the success of the “Stand Up” strike, from ending wage tiers, to winning COLA and significant raises, to security protection from plant closures.

“They told us we would never win back cost of living allowance,” Fain continues. “They told us we would never win the right to strike over plant closures. They told us we would never put an end to wage tiers, or a permanent underclass of temporary workers. But we did.”

The strike also led to the automakers agreeing to fold electric vehicle battery plants into the master agreement. Months later, Ultium workers ratified an industry-setting, first-ever union contract at a battery plant in Lordstown, OH.

 

The video’s full transcript via President Shawn Fain is available below:  

“The best thing we can do for one another is show each other how to be brave, how to be creative, and how to stand up for economic and social justice. That’s what our Stand Up Strike was all about.

“2023 was the first time the UAW President has refused to shake hands with the company CEOs, and instead shook hands with the members. It was the first time we updated our members directly on the company’s proposals throughout negotiations.

“It was our first time using a Stand Up Strike strategy. We ran the longest national contract strike at the Big Three since 1973. This was the first time in UAW history that we hit all three companies at once.

“We had doubters, but we also had champions. We had leaders and we had organizers. And I don’t mean people like me, I mean, you, the workers. The members who really run this union. People who take the word solidarity and make it mean something.

“If you’d have told me 30 years ago we could take on all three of the Big Three at one time, and win more in one contract than we have in decades, and if you told me that the vast majority of American public from my next door neighbors to the President of the United States would stand with us, I probably wouldn’t have believed it.

“When we went on strike on September 15th, the big three had a combined $12 billion in new gains on the table for our union. By the end of our Stand Up Strike, that amount had grown to over $23 billion. The Big Three nearly doubled the money on the table.

“They told us we would never win back cost of living allowance. They told us we would never win the right to strike over plant closures. They told us we would never put an end to wage tiers or permanent underclass of temporary workers. But we did.

“They said you can’t win a commitment to reopen Belvidere. And now of course the company’s trying to say you can’t enforce a contract. So we intend to fight like hell to make this company keep their promise.

“We managed to bring thousands of EV and battery jobs under our national agreements with a pathway for some of the Lordstown GM members to finally return home.

“We won $1.25 billion for current retirees, which is easily a billion more than we’ve won the last four contracts combined.

“And after we won these historic contracts at Ford, GM and Stellantis, nonunion employers were tripping over themselves to hand out raises in an obvious attempt to discourage employees from organizing. We called those raises the UAW Bump.

“This movement won a historic victory at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where workers overwhelmingly voted to unionize. 73%, that’s not just a victory, that’s a blowout.

“But I also want to make sure we remember we won something else too. We won back our dignity as auto workers. What we won in these agreements is a new muscle, a new chapter in the story of the UAW. Ordinary people did extraordinary things. Our solidarity is our strength. Our strength is the hope of working-class people everywhere. For ourselves, for our families, for our communities, for our country, and for our future.”

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