Auto Workers Union announces tentative agreement to end strike with Stellantis.
On Tuesday, the United Auto Workers union (UAW) announced it had reached a tentative agreement with Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, to end a ten-day strike that began on Feb. 16.
The strike began after UAW National President Rory Gamble said that Stellantis’s offer to union members was unconscionable and demanded further negotiations. The strike stopped the production of vehicles at a number of Stellantis plants in the United States and Canada.
UAW Vice President and Director Terry Dittes said in a statement that the new agreement “provides significant gains for our members in wages, as well as important gains on workplace and medical benefits, job security and other key issues on behalf of the UAW Fiat Chrysler Automobiles bargaining unit members.”
The agreement will now have to be ratified by the union’s members before it takes effect. It includes a four-year wage increase of 3 percent for the first year and 2.5 percent for the remaining three years, as well as lump-sum contributions to members’ defined contribution medical plans and additional money for the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.
The agreement also includes provisions for members temporarily laid-off at Stellantis plants to receive benefits and the company to offer members opportunities for training, mobility, and lateral advancement to higher-paying positions.
Hopefully, with the tentative agreement in place, the strike will come to end, and the union members can get back to work. This agreement will hopefully serve as a starting point for future negotiations between the UAW and Stellantis, and all auto workers will benefit in the long run.