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 However, if you have not withdrawn your decision by January 5that 11:59pm, you will be required to retire.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
https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/MikeBoothSAP.png7541498Chris Skellyhttps://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/uaw-logo-white-transparent-trademark-300x300.pngChris Skelly2024-12-12 15:56:582025-01-10 16:29:57Statement from UAW Vice President Mike Booth on Update of the GM Special Attrition Program (SAP)
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.
https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/UAW-Wheel-generic-feature.jpg5761024Justin Mayhughhttps://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/uaw-logo-white-transparent-trademark-300x300.pngJustin Mayhugh2024-08-01 10:02:272024-08-01 10:02:28UAW Solidarity Statement with Striking GM Workers in Brazil
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.
https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/UAW-Wheel-generic-feature.jpg5761024Justin Mayhughhttps://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/uaw-logo-white-transparent-trademark-300x300.pngJustin Mayhugh2024-06-10 10:33:382024-06-10 10:33:39UAW Members at Ultium Cells in Lordstown Reach EV Industry-Defining Tentative Agreement
“In our 2023 contract negotiations, we won an additional $50,000 for eligible GM workers who were ready to retire, as an additional boost in retirement security for our members who have given decades of their working lives to this company. It’s called the Special Attrition Program, or SAP. We wanted to make sure workers who are ready to retire get an additional bonus as recognition for their service to GM, and the many sacrifices made along the way.
One difference between what we won at GM and what we won at Ford and Stellantis is that every GM worker who’s eligible to retire during the life of the agreement will have the opportunity to receive the $50,000 SAP, if they choose to do so; not just those members who were eligible upon ratification. But the size, scope, and timing of each phase of the SAP was to be negotiated.
As you know, we negotiated our first phase earlier this year, and won SAP eligibility for around 748 members. Once we announced this first phase, many members spoke up and said that we needed to expand the eligibility in this first phase.
We heard you. So we took it back to the company and said it wasn’t good enough.
Today I am excited to announce that we have won SAPs for ALL 1,412 GM production workers who signed up for the SAP. Those workers will immediately be eligible to receive the $50,000 retirement bonus, with retirement dates effective June 1st, July 1st or August 1st. That’s a big win, and a big expansion from what GM was first willing to offer.
But we still have work to do. We have not yet won immediate eligibility of all of the 545 skilled trades workers who have expressed interest in taking the SAP; only about 142 are immediately eligible in this first window. We’re still fighting to win an expansion on that number. At GM, we have a shortage of skilled trades workers, a problem which will require creative solutions on the company’s part, and an expansion of their apprenticeship programs. We’re going to continue to fight for our skilled trades members who want to retire. And to be clear, every single member who is eligible to retire will have the opportunity to receive the $50,000 SAP during the life of this contract, skilled trades and production.
The other good news is that the next window is coming soon. The company has agreed to open the next SAP window in the 4th quarter of 2024.
We are hard at work on building on our contract victories, and intend to keep delivering for all UAW members at GM.
In solidarity,
UAW Vice President Mike Booth
https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/UAW-Wheel-generic-feature.jpg5761024Justin Mayhughhttps://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/uaw-logo-white-transparent-trademark-300x300.pngJustin Mayhugh2024-05-23 14:40:292025-01-10 16:29:57Statement from UAW Vice President Mike Booth on Expansion of GM Special Attrition Program
General Motors Aramark workers have won a historic tentative agreement that will set the pattern and raise the standard for all UAW GM members in sanitation.
In a new video, Mike Booth, UAW Vice President and Director of the GM Department, shares some of the record gains contained in the deal and the strategy behind winning the agreement.
Under the tentative agreement, Aramark workers will receive raises of up to 43% over the life of the proposed three-year deal. The UAW was also able to reduce the time it takes a worker to reach the top wage rate. Previously, it could take years for a worker to reach that mark. Under the proposed agreement, it would take a worker just ninety days.
UAW Aramark workers will also receive retroactive back pay from March 15, the day the previous contract expired.
“If ratified, this deal will be a major victory for our UAW members in sanitation, not just at Aramark,” Booth says in the video to Aramark workers. “Of the ten sanitation companies the UAW bargains with, Aramark is the largest. We took the fight to Aramark head-on to win a contract that recognizes your hard work and dedication.”
Winning a record agreement at Aramark is part of the UAW’s strategy to put pressure on the other nine sanitation companies to negotiate similar contracts, improving conditions for all UAW sanitation workers.
“Our strategy was to win big at Aramark so we can win big everywhere else for our GM sanitation members,” Booth says. “We’re showing these companies that the days of our members in sanitation getting left behind are over.”
Aramark workers will now vote on whether to approve the tentative agreement.
The record deal at Aramark comes on the heels of a number of major victories for the UAW in recent months. Last fall, UAW members won record contracts at the Big Three automakers after their 44-day Stand-Up Strike. Last week, autoworkers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, TN, made history by overwhelmingly voting to join the UAW, the first auto plant in the South to unionize in decades.
https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BoothAramark1.png7301446Justin Mayhughhttps://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/uaw-logo-white-transparent-trademark-300x300.pngJustin Mayhugh2024-04-23 14:41:282024-04-23 14:41:28GM Aramark Workers Win Major Gains, Raise the Standard for Sanitation Workers
The UAW kicked off its biannual National Cap Conference in Washington D.C. with hundreds of union members gathering at the Marriott Marquis Hotel to set the union’s upcoming political and legislative work. Tying into the spirit of last fall’s wildly successful Stand Up Strike at the Big Three automakers, the theme for this year’s conference is “Stand Up For Your Future,” with a focus on retirement security.
UAW President Shawn Fain was the keynote speaker for the day’s proceedings. He addressed an energetic crowd of delegates and received a standing ovation on numerous occasions during an impassioned speech presenting a vision of a member-led, powerful, reenergized UAW.
“We’re here to turn our union, our families, and our communities from quiet supporters of the cause of economic and social justice into an army of working-class warriors ready to stand up,” Fain said to those in attendance. “As the working class, we know we have the majority. But it must not be a silent majority. We know we have the power. But it must not be disorganized power. We know we are on the right side of history. But we can’t wait for the history books to vindicate us. We must act now.”
UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock gave a powerful speech on reproductive justice. “The attack on women’s reproductive healthcare will be on every ballot across America in 2024,” Mock said. “We need the entire nation standing with women. We must lobby every politician that receives our CAP dollars and our votes to support legislation which provides choice for women. Everyone must join us in this unprecedented battle for reproductive freedom for women. If women are not truly free, no one else can be either.”
UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock addresses delegates at the UAW National CAP Conference in Washington D.C.
Each of the UAW’s three Vice Presidents spoke on the issue of retirement security, discussing the need for post-retirement healthcare as an essential next battle for the UAW in the legislative halls and at the bargaining table.
“The fight for retirement security in this country is bigger than any one employer,” said Vice President Rich Boyer. “It’s bigger than any one industry. We have to have an aggressive plan to win – just like we did during the Stand Up Strike. We need a strategy that lifts up all workers and creates real standards in this country. We need to win real retirement security for all.”
“When these companies listen to Wall Street and say we can’t afford to care for the people who made us all this money, I say there’s something very wrong with that,” Vice President Mike Booth stated. “There’s something wrong with these corporations, there’s something wrong with congress, and there’s something wrong with our for-profit health care industry. These are not problems we can solve one worksite at a time or one industry at a time but solve them we must. The American people want real retirement security. We need real retirement security. And it’s about time that we fight like hell for real retirement security.”
UAW President Shawn Fain speaking with a CAP delegate during the day one conference dinner.
“We were incredibly effective during the Stand Up Strike because we were aggressive, united, and because we took the boss by surprise,” Vice President Chuck Browning told delegates. “It’s time that we used those same aggressive tactics and applied them to our political program. It’s time for us to take the boss fight to the next level. That’s how we win.”
Many delegates made the short trip to Capitol Hill to stop into congressional offices to lobby for workers’ rights on numerous issues.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaking at the UAW National CAP Conference in Washington D.C.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gave a rousing keynotes speech during the day one conference dinner, speaking on the many challenges facing the working class and the importance of fighting for working people in 2024 and beyond.
“Amidst all of those challenges, there is some extraordinaire good news taking place,” Senator Sanders said. “We are currently seeing a major revitalization of the trade union movement in America. And, in that regard, I want to thank the UAW for all that you are doing, because you are helping to lead that revolution.
Sanders’ speech was followed by an interactive session where the Senator Sanders and delegates took turns asking and answering each other’s questions.
The National CAP Conference is the heart of the union’s political work. Delegates and leaders work together to shape the UAW’s political and legislative priorities moving forward.
CAP delegates listen to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders during his keynote address.
https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/BernieCAPdinner-scaled.jpg16722560Justin Mayhughhttps://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/uaw-logo-white-transparent-trademark-300x300.pngJustin Mayhugh2024-01-23 15:42:192024-03-08 11:54:00UAW Kicks Off National CAP Conference in Washington D.C., Sets Political & Legislative Agenda
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