‘A tipping point’ in equal pay: Automakers are scrapping tiered wages

The country’s largest automakers — Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis — are poised to become the latest U.S. corporations to do away with tiered wage arrangements, a system that splits the workforce into haves and have-nots by confining newer employees to lower wages.

All three auto giants have agreed to sweeping improvements in employee pay, including the elimination of unequal pay scales that made it difficult for new hires to catch up with longtime employees. While the deal still needs to be approved by union workers, it’s a big win for employees and indicative of a recent trend sweeping workplaces.

Since 2021, at least a dozen U.S. employers — in industries as varied as aerospace, education and manufacturing — have abolished tiered wages and benefits, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. Robust post-pandemic spending combined with widespread labor shortages have given workers a rare window to fight against decades of eroding pay gains and benefits.

“Tiered arrangements have haunted the labor movement since the 1970s, but we are finally reaching a tipping point,” said Joseph McCartin, a professor of labor history at Georgetown University. “Unions are pushing hard to rectify this problem. It gets to the heart of one of the longest running issues in the history of American labor: equal pay for equal work.”