In an effort to keep the momentum in its favor, the UAW gave GM a strike deadline of Sunday, October 25, 2015, at 11:59 p.m., to reach a tentative agreement. The UAW’s strategy appears to have worked as the parties reached a tentative agreement shortly before midnight on Sunday. The announcement came just days after the UAW announced its membership had ratified the second tentative agreement reached with Fiat Chrysler. The UAW used a similar strike deadline announcement with Fiat Chrysler to reach the second tentative agreement.
Prior to the vote by the UAW National GM Council yesterday, the UAW kept a lid on specific details regarding the terms of the tentative agreement. The UAW appears to have learned from its failure to control the flow of information related to the first tentative agreement with Fiat Chrysler. Following the Council’s vote, the UAW released details outlining the “significant gains” achieved including $8,000 signing bonuses and an additional $1.9 billion in new investments by GM in U.S. facilities along with the $6.4 billion already announced in 2015.
Voting on the tentative agreement may start as early as tomorrow. We will have to wait and see if the UAW membership at GM ratifies the current tentative agreement or takes a cue from its brothers and sisters at Fiat Chrysler and holds out for more. One thing is for certain, the membership will get the last word as to whether or not the tentative agreement is acceptable.
Stay tuned to Dashboard Insights for further developments regarding the status of the negotiations.