General Motors Is Said to Offer Its Workers Bonuses
General Motors Is Said to Offer Its Workers Bonuses
By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY
Published: September 17, 2011
DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union won $5,000 signing bonuses for its workers and a promise to re-open an assembly plant in Tennessee as part of its tentative new contract with General Motors, according to people briefed on the negotiations.
In what is being viewed as a landmark deal, the union also preserved health care and pensions and improved profit-sharing for its 48,000 members who work at G.M.
The U.A.W.’s tentative, four-year agreement with G.M., announced late Friday, also opens the door for the automaker to bring back laid-off workers and move jobs back into the United States.
G.M. is the first of Detroit’s Big Three to reach a deal with the union. Details of the agreement were being withheld until the union can inform members, who will vote on ratification over the next two weeks.
The union’s president, Bob King, said in a statement that union members would get a larger share of the profits from G.M.’s comeback from its federal bailout and bankruptcy in 2009.
“When G.M. was struggling, our members shared in the sacrifice,â€