UAW Files Unfair Labor Practice Charges Against GM as Negotiations Get Ugly

The UAW is accusing GM of using stall tactics, but the automaker claims that it isn’t, and that the union has excessive demands – which side is telling the truth?

General Motors – along with Ford and Stellantis – have been working on negotiating a new contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union for weeks now, something these same parties do every few years. However, this latest negotiation is unlike any other that we’ve seen before, for a couple of big reasons. For starters, the rise of EVs has created a lot of uncertainty given the fact that they require a lot less labor to produce than ICE vehicles, and new UAW President Shawn Fain has made it quite clear that he’s playing hardball, unwilling to give concessions on a handful of things that the union is asking for. Talks thus far have reflected that, as well as actions.

In fact, while Ford recently presented the UAW with its first contract offer – which was quickly panned by Fain as woefully inadequate – GM and Stellantis have not submitted any sort of offer at all, which prompted the UAW to file unfair labor practices against the two automakers. Fain is accusing both of using delay tactics and not negotiating in good faith, which both GM and Stellantis have denied. “I told [the Big Three CEOs] that if they expected to drag everything out until the final days of bargaining and then try to settle everything all at once, then they were setting themselves up for a strike,” Fain said. “Unfortunately, many employers across the country are willing to break the law and incur the meager fines and penalties that result as just the cost of union busting.”

In response, Gerald Johnson – GM’s Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing – stated that “we have been hyper-focused on negotiating directly and in good fair with the UAW and are making progress. The pace of negotiations is based on how quickly both parties resolve nearly 1,000 UAW demands, including more than 90 presented this week.”

That latter point is important here, because it suggests that the union is going a bit overboard in terms of what it’s demanding. Thus far, we know that the UAW is seeking a double digit pay increase for its employees – 40 percent in total – along with the end of tiered pay systems, the return of cost of living adjustments, and a cap on the use of temporary workers, but it’s quite revealing that there are apparently far more demands than the UAW has made public, at least according to GM.

As one might imagine, this stirred up quite an interesting conversation in the CorvetteForum forums, one started by AustinVetter. “Some of these things make you just shake your head,” he said. “UAW files charges against GM for taking too long to negotiate…WHILE the UAW continues adding more and more demands weekly. They are up to over 1,000 demands with more than 90 new demands added just this week according to GM. In my opinion, if you are in charge of a union of thousands of workers, you should be organized enough to have a fair list of demands well before it could have impact on your members. They should have had a top, I don’t know, 50 list of demands presented 6 months ago. Not wait until a couple of weeks before a potential shut down.”

Of course, there are also plenty of folks that take issue with this whole idea, and support the union over GM. “Don’t take this the wrong way but you have choices to buy the car or not,” said 19/C7Z. “You also have a choice to build the car if you would do it for less. Is the Bowling Green employee parking lot loaded with C8s? The people that make your car can’t afford it. It’s a toy. I’d gladly pay more for this car if that money into their pockets and not Mary Barra $20 million a year.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this has spawned a rather heated debate, with plenty of people arguing the merits of each side. Thus, we’re curious to hear what you think – is GM negotiating fairly here, or is the union right in its assessment that the automaker is stalling in an effort to put pressure on the UAW? Head over here and let us know what you think!

Photos: Chevrolet

.