After a half year of talks, negotiating and arguing, General Motors and the United Auto Workers union have reached an agreement regarding lower-wage jobs.
At many of the GM plants across the United States, there will now be two tiers of lower-paying jobs. At the higher tier, workers currently make about $28 an hour. The lower tier will be saved for new hires and that will be about $14-15 an hour.
According to John Melton, the UAW Local 31 bargaining chairman, the union and GM have agreed on which jobs will warrant the lower wages and which ones will receive the higher ones. And it’s about time, too. The negotiations lasted for months. The main concern was the definition of the “core jobs” and the “non-core jobs.” They finally agreed that the definition of the latter included those jobs that were not considered a vital part to the automobile-building process.
Ultimately, the deal is going to affect about 16,000 factory jobs. But it’s also going to take years for this to take effect. It’s not like General Motors can suddenly start paying some of their employees half of their current salary. The automaker will need to wait until the “non-core” employees are fazed out or given other jobs to make room for the new hires.
What does this mean for you? In the long run, it could mean lower prices at your local GMC truck dealer. But don’t wait for that. Check one out today and see the affordable prices and variety of options designed to meet your driving needs.
