Tag Archive for: General Motors

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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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In New Video, UAW Contrasts Trump’s Failures with Harris’ Results for Lordstown Autoworkers

The UAW has released a new video highlighting the sharp contrast between Donald Trump’s rhetoric and Kamala Harris’ proven track record in delivering for autoworkers, with a focus on Lordstown, Ohio. 

“Donald Trump is all talk and no action when it comes to delivering for autoworkers,” says UAW President Shawn Fain. “Thanks to Vice President Harris and President Biden, Lordstown workers are returning to their hometown. That’s what it means to deliver for American autoworkers.” 

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

While Trump promised to bring jobs back to Ohio, he oversaw the closure of Lordstown Assembly and did nothing to support autoworkers fighting for good jobs before, during, or after his presidency. Kamala Harris not only stood with striking autoworkers in 2019, but helped bring back good union auto jobs to Lordstown at Ultium Cells. 

The new video comes on the heels of a two major Harris-Walz campaign events with the UAW in Michigan, following the union’s endorsement of Harris for President last week.   

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UAW Solidarity Statement with Striking GM Workers in Brazil

The UAW stands in solidarity with striking auto workers at the General Motors assembly plant in São José dos Campos, Brazil. Workers at the facility are protesting the company’s recent unjust layoffs and retaliatory firings, decisions that were made in the name of corporate greed.

Workers at the facility, who are represented by the Metalworkers Union of São José dos Campos, have conducted two strikes since last Friday. They are demanding the reinstatement of 50 workers laid off by GM last week. They are also demanding job security and the opening of the Voluntary Dismissal Program if layoffs are inevitable.

What’s been made evidently clear by these arbitrary decisions is that GM is attempting to union-bust and cut labor costs at a time when the company is raking in billions of dollars. GM amassed over $10 billion in profits in 2023 alone. The company looks poised to have an even stronger year in 2024.

“This type of behavior by General Motors is unnecessary and unconscionable,” said UAW Vice President Mike Booth. “There is absolutely no reason why this corporation should be cutting jobs that will so negatively affect the lives of its workers and the local community at a time of record profits. The UAW is committed to supporting these brave workers and the Metalworkers Union in any way we can.”

The GM São José dos Campos plant produces the Trailblazer and S10 models, as well as engines and transmissions. The automaker employs around 3,150 workers in the city.

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UAW Members at Ultium Cells in Lordstown Reach EV Industry-Defining Tentative Agreement

UAW Local 1112 has reached a historic tentative agreement at Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio, where workers build electric vehicle batteries for GM vehicles. The agreement marks a historic breakthrough for electric vehicle workers and a path forward that ends the race to the bottom pursued by corporate America throughout the EV transition.

The local agreement builds on the successes of the national contract that Ultium workers joined as a major win of the Stand Up Strike.

“Eighteen months ago, this company was on a low road path to poverty wages, unsafe conditions, and a dark future for battery workers in America,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Ultium workers said, ‘Hell no,’ got organized, and fought back. Now they’ve more than doubled their wages by the end of this contract, won record health and safety language, and showed the world what it means to win a just transition.”

“We were told at the beginning of bargaining that Ultium workers would never be allowed to join the UAW’s national agreement at GM,” said UAW Vice President Mike Booth. “Not only did we prove them wrong, but we did them one better, winning a major local agreement that sets the standard for the EV battery industry.”

“Five years ago, when they closed Lordstown Assembly, it was a major gut punch – I know, I lived it,” said UAW Region 2B Director David Green. “They wrote Lordstown off for dead. They thought we’d settle for low wages and unsafe jobs. They thought wrong, and now Ultium workers are leading the way.”

“Organizing to win our union took relentless persistence on behalf of hundreds of my coworkers at Ultium. Negotiating this contract was no different,” said UAW Local 1112 Shop Chairman Josh Ayers. “We want this agreement to become a cornerstone for current and future battery plants across the nation. First we planned. Then we took action. And now we have a tentative agreement to be proud of.”

Now, the 1,600 UAW members at Ultium Cells will review the details of the agreement and hold a ratification vote in the coming days. If ratified, the agreement will set a new standard for electric vehicle battery workers everywhere and mark a major milestone in the just transition to EVs.

For more on the fight for justice at Ultium, visit UAW.org/Ultium.

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