UAW sets deadline for pact with GM

This would result in result in strike, if an agreement is not reached before the deadline.

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Friday in a statement that the union representation issue will be decided by the company and the affected workers.

The post urges workers not to put down their tools unless instructed to do so and says a strike will be a last resort.

At the last hours of the deadline on October 7, the union struck a negotiation deal with Fiat.

GM, in a statement said, “GM confirms that we have received a negotiations deadline from the UAW”.

The contract for the workers at General Motors has been extended once already.

“Pattern bargaining serves an important goal: It levels the playing field so companies compete based on the quality of their products or services – not on how much they pay (or don’t pay) their workers”, the union said on its Facebook page.

A national strike involving all 52,700 members with the automaker is the most drastic option the union could take.

GM would have to shutter at plants impacted by a strike at “key parts” plants, because they would have no work.

Workers from both tiers banded together to defeat the previous contract, saying they deserved a bigger share of Fiat Chrysler’s profits after giving up raises and bonuses when the company was struggling. This is the first year since 2007 that union members at GM and Fiat Chrysler were capable of striking.

“The fact that they are only seeking to unionize a small portion of the maintenance department is very telling”, said Thomas Haney, the representative of ACE’s salaried worker group. The final fully-loaded cost involved was $26.5 billion – not the $11.2 billion touted by the press past year.

However, GM executives have made clear that its continued health largely depends on its ability to keep labor costs competitive with foreign-owned companies with USA plants. Affected workers would then file for and collect unemployment benefits, putting the unemployment insurance system on the hook for untold millions of dollars per week, instead of having to rely on the UAW’s strike fund.

Earlier this year, UAW President Dennis Williams indicated that the UAW was willing to agree to the expansion of the number of these third-tier workers. The union president told The Detroit News in mid-August that deciding to strike would be a “tough call”.