By Dean Seal
Stellantis has sent its first economic proposal to United Auto Workers as the union considers a potential strike for better wages.
The automaker said Friday that it is prepared to provide wage increases in each year of the contract that would total 14.5%. It is also offering a $6,000 one-time inflation-protection payment for the first year of the contract and $4,500 in inflation protection payments over the next three years of the contract.
“In percentage terms, this opening offer is larger than where we ultimately landed in 2019,” Mark Stewart, chief operating officer of Stellantis North America, said in a letter to the union.
The Jeep maker’s proposal would also make Juneteenth a paid holiday, a move that follows the federal government’s 2021 decision to declare June 19 a national holiday.
Supplemental employees would see wages increase to a starting rate of $20 per hour from $15.78, and potentially reduce the time it would take employees to reach the maximum wage rate by two years.
The union is pressing Stellantis and other Detroit car companies to give its factory workers a 40% pay hike in the next four-year labor contract, which would be the largest increase in recent memory.
A spokesperson for UAW said President Shawn Fain will address the proposal along with other issues in a Facebook webcast on Friday evening.
Fain has warned that UAW is prepared to go on strike against any automaker that hasn’t reached a new deal by the time contracts expire on Sept. 14.
Write to Dean Seal at [email protected]
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