Stellantis offers 14.5%, 4-year wage hike to UAW as potential strike looms
UAW's demands include a 20% immediate wage increase followed by four 5% annual wage hikes
UAW workers can expect a 'sizable increase in wages' over next 4 years: Mike Ward
The Benchmark Company senior analyst Mike Ward discusses a potential United Auto Workers union strike on 'The Claman Countdown.'
Chrysler parent Stellantis said Friday it offered hourly workers in the U.S. a 14.5% wage hike over four years in its offer to the United Auto Workers (UAW).
The offer comes ahead of the current contract’s Sept. 14 expiration.
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"This has been a really good week at the bargaining table," Mike Resha, Stellantis’ head of North America manufacturing, said in a statement to FOX Business. "Today’s offer includes significant wage increases in each year of the contract and, in percentage terms, this opening offer is larger than where we ultimately landed in 2019."
Engines are lifted at the Stellantis Dundee Engine Complex on Aug. 18, 2022, in Dundee, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images / Getty Images)
In response to Stellantis, the UAW tweeted: "They have the money. They just don't want Stellantis workers to get our fair share."
According to Stellantis, the offer also includes inflation protection, Juneteenth as a paid holiday and a reduced accelerated progression timeline from eight years to six years, potentially reducing the time that employees can reach the max wage rate by 25%.
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Despite Stellantis coming closer to UAW demands than contemporaries Ford and General Motors, the offer is still much less than the 46% wage hike being sought by the union. The UAW has said 97% of members voted in favor of authorizing a strike if an agreement is not reached.
On Thursday, GM offered a 10% wage increase to the UAW and union president Shawn Fain called it an "insulting proposal that doesn’t come close to an equitable agreement for America’s autoworkers."
United Automobile Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain speaks as UAW members and their supporters gather for Solidarity Sunday at the UAW Region 1 office in Warren, Michigan, on Aug. 20, 2023. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Fain said GM made the offer after refusing to bargain in good faith for the past six weeks and having federal labor board charges filed against it.
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Last week, Ford said it had offered a 9% wage increase through 2027 and 6% lump payments.
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), center left, walks with demonstrators during a UAW practice picket outside the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, Aug. 23. (Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The union's demands include a 20% immediate wage increase followed by four 5% annual wage hikes, defined-benefit pensions for all workers, 32-hour work weeks and additional cost-of-living hikes for its 146,000 workers at the Big Three automakers.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM | GENERAL MOTORS CO. | 45.21 | -0.15 | -0.33% |
| F | FORD MOTOR CO. | 11.99 | -0.14 | -1.14% |
| STLA | STELLANTIS NV | 21.91 | +0.14 | +0.67% |
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FOX Business' Breck Dumas and Reuters contributed to this report