Autoworkers and Stellantis reach tentative deal that follows model set by Ford

The people, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations, said most of the key points of the deal at Ford would be transferred to Stellantis.

The Ford deal calls for 25 percent across-the-board wage increases over the next four and a half years for key assembly plant workers, including 11 percent once the deal is ratified. Workers will also receive a cost-of-living allowance that would raise raises to more than 30 percent, with key assembly plant workers earning more than $40 an hour. At Stellantis, top-level workers now earn around $31 an hour.

Like the Ford contract, the Stellantis deal would run until April 30, 2028.

The deal includes a new vehicle for a now-idle plant in Belvidere, Ill., that the company had planned to close.

Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, on strike since September, said he expects workers to vote to approve the deal because of the higher wage increases to 30 percent and an immediate significant increase. .

“Eleven percent are straight on the hood,” he said. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”

Some union members complained that Fain had promised raises of 40 percent matching what he said had been given to company CEOs, but Baumhower said that was the president’s opening offer of the UAW, Shawn Fain.

“Anyone who knows anything about negotiations always starts way higher than they think is realistic,” he said.

Discussions were underway Saturday with General Motors to try to reach a similar agreement. More than 14,000 GM workers remain on strike at plants in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.

The union launched targeted strikes against the three automakers on September 15 after its contracts with the companies expired.

The union and Stellantis began intense negotiations on Thursday, the day after the Ford deal was announced, and finalized the deal on Saturday.

UAW workers began their targeted strikes at one assembly plant at each company. The strikes expanded on September 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Ford and GM assembly plants were added the following week, then the union hit Ford hard, destroying the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, the company’s largest and most profitable plant. .

At its peak, about 46,000 workers were on strike against the three companies, about a third of the union’s 146,000 members at the three Detroit companies. Automakers laid off several thousand more as parts shortages rippled through their manufacturing systems.

Under the Ford deal, workers with pensions will also get small raises when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get big raises. For the first time, the union will have the right to strike against the company’s plans to close factories. Temporary workers will also get significant raises, and Ford has agreed to reduce the time it takes for new hires to reach the top of the pay scale to three years.

Other union leaders who have pursued more aggressive bargaining strategies in recent months have also won pay raises and other benefits for their members. Last month, the union representing Hollywood writers called off a nearly five-month strike after scoring some victories on compensation, tenure and other areas. This summer, the Teamsters also won new pay and benefit increases for unionized UPS workers after threatening a national strike at the delivery company.