UAW Strike Deal Scraps Tiered Wages, Highlighting Divide on Equal Pay
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The United Auto Workers union reached a tentative agreement with General Motors on Monday, potentially bringing an end to the six-week strike that drew national and presidential attention.
The Details: The GM deal, which isn’t final until union members vote to approve it, includes a base pay raise of 11% immediately and 25% over four years. It would also scrap a tiered wage system that paid experienced workers more, a key demand of union negotiators who said it held new hires back.
From the Right: Matching conservative opposition to unions, Right-rated outlets often portrayed the UAW strike as particularly costly; a Washington Times (Lean Right bias) article highlighted $3 billion in lost revenue for Stellantis, and a Fox Business (Lean Right bias) homepage headline said the strike was “thrashing the economy.” Fox Business host Sean Duffy called the deal’s elimination of the tiered wage system “fundamentally un-American,” comparing it to “Communist Mao Zedong’s China” because it would dissipate the “motivation to excel.”
From the Left: Matching liberal support for unions, Left-rated outlets tended to paint the deal as a victory for workers that would help the economy. A CNN Business (Lean Left bias) analysis said the deal “won’t necessarily jack up car prices,” and New York Times (Opinion rated Left) columnist Paul Krugman praised the UAW deal as “a milestone on the way back to a less unequal nation.” A Washington Post (Lean Left bias) analysis labeled the end of tiered wages as “a big win for employees.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
‘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...
From the Center
UAW wins back Obama-era concessions from financial crisis, as strike nears end
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has won back several concessions it made to three major automakers in the wake of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, after reaching tentative agreements with all three major U.S. automakers.
General Motors was the last of the three to reach a deal with the union Monday, agreeing to largely the same terms that Ford and Stellantis accepted Wednesday and Saturday.
The tentative agreements, which still must be ratified by UAW members, would provide a 25 percent general wage increase over the life of the 4.5 year contract,...
From the Right
As UAW strike nears settlement, let's hope this one demand isn't met
The United Auto Workers (UAW) have reportedly struck agreements with each of the Big Three auto manufacturers, hopefully bringing thousands back to work and restarting U.S. automobile production.
With details still being finalized, it remains to be seen how damaging these agreements will be to the U.S. But if the UAW is happy with the terms, it’s likely that they could have detrimental impacts on the U.S. economy and workforce for generations.
It’s easy to understand why. The UAW has made demands that could damage the competitiveness of U.S. auto manufacturers. They’ve asked for significant...
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