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DETROIT – An estimated 49,000 workers at General Motors' US plants plan to strike just before midnight on Sunday, but discussions between United Auto Workers and the automaker will resume.
About 200 union leaders from factories voted unanimously in favor of a walkout at a meeting Sunday morning in Detroit. The union leaders said the parties were still distant on several major issues and that they were apparently not influenced by a GM bid to manufacture new products in or near two of the four factories that 39, he planned to close, according to a person informed about it. .
"We defended General Motors when they needed us most," union spokesman Terry Dittes said in a statement, citing union concessions that allowed GM to survive bankruptcy protection in 2009. "We are now forming the unity and solidarity of our members."
UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said Sunday night that contract negotiations would resume at 10 am Monday, but that the strike was still scheduled.
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Friday proposed to build a new 100% electric pickup truck at a Detroit plant that is expected to close next year, according to a person who reportedly spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to disclose the details of the situation. negotiations, which had not been made public. The automaker has also proposed to open an electric vehicle battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, where it already has a factory that no longer manufactures cars. The new plant would add to the proposal to make electric vehicles for a company called Workhorse, said the person.
It is not known how many workers the two plants would employ. Closings, particularly from the Ohio factory, have become issues in the 2020 presidential campaign. President Donald Trump has always criticized the company and demanded the reopening of Lordstown.
Rothenberg, of the UAW, said the company had made general statements about why it was considering a strike, but would not comment on GM's offer. The union said it would go on strike to get fair wages, affordable health care, profit sharing, job security and a way to get a permanent job for workers temporary.
In a statement, GM also said the offer made to the union on Saturday included more than $ 7 billion in US plant investment and the creation of 5,400 new jobs, a minority of which would be filled by current employees. GM would not give a specific number. Investments would be made in factories in four states, two of which were unidentified.
The statement also states that the company offers "the best wages and benefits of the market", a better profit sharing and a payment of 8,000 dollars to each worker upon ratification. The offer included salary or lump sum increases over the four years of the agreement, as well as health benefits "nationwide".
The announcement came hours after the union left GM's contract expiring on Saturday night.
In the event of a strike, the picketers would close a total of 53 GM facilities, including 33 manufacturing sites and 22 parts distribution warehouses. GM has plants in the states of Michigan, Ohio, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, Indiana and Kansas.
On Saturday, Dittes, the union's chief negotiator, said in a letter to GM members that after months of negotiations, the union and GM were very far apart on issues such as wages, health care, temporary employees, job security and profit sharing. The letter to members and another to GM aimed to put pressure on GM's negotiators.
A strike would end GM's US production and likely prevent the company from manufacturing vehicles in Canada and Mexico. This would mean fewer vehicles for consumers among the concessions, and it would be impossible to build specially commissioned cars and trucks.
The strike would be the union's first since a two-day work stoppage at GM in 2007.
On Friday, union leaders extended their contracts with Ford and Fiat Chrysler for an indefinite period, but the deal with General Motors was expected to expire Saturday night.
The union has chosen GM as its target company, which is more profitable than Ford and Fiat Chrysler, which means that it is being negotiated and that it would be the first company to deal with an interruption.
Discussions between the union and GM were tense from the start, largely due to plans to close four US plants, including the one at the Detroit border with the Hamtramck and Lordstown enclave. The union promised to fight against closures.
Here are the main areas of disagreement:
• GM is making a lot of money, $ 8 billion last year alone, and workers want a bigger share. The union wants annual wage increases to protect itself from the economic downturn, but the company wants to pay lump sums related to revenues. Automakers do not want higher fixed costs.
• The union also wants new products for the four plants that GM wants to close. Factory projects have upset some workers, although most laid-off people are getting jobs at other GM factories. GM currently has too much factory capacity in the United States.
• Companies want to fill the gap in the cost of labor with factory workers managed by foreign builders. GM pays $ 63 an hour in wages and benefits, compared with $ 50 in foreign-owned plants. GM's gap is the largest ($ 13 an hour), followed by Ford ($ 11) and Fiat Chrysler ($ 5), according to figures from the Center for Automotive Research.
• Union members benefit from excellent health insurance plans and workers pay about 4% of the cost. Employees of major companies in the country pay about 34 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Car manufacturers want to reduce costs.
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