DETROIT, Mich.—The United Auto Workers’ strike against General Motors entered its 18th day Oct. 3, after the union rejected the company’s Sept. 30 contract offer and submitted a counterproposal. UAW Vice President Terry Dittes told members in a letter that the GM offer “came up short” on health care, wages, temporary workers, and job security. People briefed on the negotiations told the Associated Press that while GM had dropped demands for concessions on health care, its proposal would have made temporary workers full-time only if they work for three uninterrupted years—an almost impossible condition, objectors said. The offer would have given workers hired before 20072% raises in 2020 and 2022, plus an $8,000 ratification bonus and lump-sum payments of 2% in 2019 and 3% in 2021. But it would not have given full-time workers hired after 2007 raises other than those included in the previous contract, and kept their maximum pay at $28 per hour, $2 below what it is for older production workers. The temps, about 7% of GM’s workforce, start at below $16 an hour. GM said Oct. 1 that it was suspending production at two plants in Mexico, idling 6,000 workers. Read more
