The company said it offered improved profit sharing; what it called "solutions for unallocated assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio"; a ratification payment of $8,000 and was enabling the union to "retain nationally leading health care benefits."
"Unallocated assembly plants" refers to GM's decision announced last fall that it would indefinitely idle four of its U.S. plants. The UAW vowed to leave no stone unturned in fighting to get new vehicles to build in those plants, which include Lordstown Assembly in Ohio, Detroit-Hamtramck and transmission plants in Warren, Michigan, and Baltimore.
Health care is a key point in the talks. GM and Ford each spend more than $1 billion a year on health coverage. The average UAW worker pays about 3% of his or her health care costs compared with 28% paid by the average U.S. worker, research by the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research shows.
Autoworkers argue that their jobs are physically taxing and can lead to chronic injury early in life, so the health coverage is essential.
Dziczek said what GM disclosed about its offer leaves questions.
GM’s description of its offer did not reference a path to making temporary workers permanent or closing the in-progression gap for workers hired at a lower wage after 2007. “Those are some pretty significant issues,” Dziczek said.
Harley Shaiken, a labor scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, said a national strike makes the point that the UAW is serious about unresolved issues and it puts “the ball in GM’s court” to resolve it. But GM’s move to outline what it’s offered the UAW is unprecedented, Shaiken said.
“GM is making a highly risky move by putting out a statement that detailed,” Shaiken said. “It means they are going to the UAW members rather than discussing it with the leadership.”
