GM president fires back: 'Flow of misinformation' could prolong UAW strike | Opinion

Amid the rhetoric of the United Auto Workers leadership, the flow of misinformation is not fair to anyone. It can be hugely counterproductive to reaching an agreement that gets the GM team back to work quickly, which should be everyone’s goal.

The record offer we proposed on Sept. 14 recognizes the many contributions our represented team members make to our company — past, present and future. And it addresses, directly, what they’ve told us matters most: wage growth, job security and long-term stability. I’d like to take this opportunity to debunk some of the myths being shared out there.

Myth: GM doesn’t pay its people a decent wage

UAW leadership claims GM pays its team members "poverty" wages. This is simply not true. In our current proposal, we are offering a 20% wage increase ― including for temporary employees, who make up only 6% to 10% of our workforce. That means about 85% of current represented employees would earn a base wage of approximately $82,000 a year. In contrast, the average median household income in nine areas where GM has major assembly plants is $51,821. And total compensation for the 85% of the workforce, with overtime and benefits, would be more than $150,000 a year. In the 2019 contract, wages for hourly workers with less than one year of service earning $17 an hour had the potential to reach $32.32 an hour over the term of the contract. With our most recent proposal, some entry-level team members will get up to a maximum rate of $39.24 an hour at the end of the contract, for some workers, a 141% increase.

Myth: With its record profits, GM can easily afford the UAW’s demands

The fundamental reality is that the UAW’s demands can be described in one word — untenable. We want to ensure our company succeeds, and more importantly wins for the next 100 years — for the benefit of everyone. We’re at a pivotal point in our journey as we transition to an all-EV future. We have already announced our intention to add jobs in 2024. In our offer, we have work and products for every single one of our U.S. facilities. As we started our transformation to EVs, we made sure we had work for the entire manufacturing team so we could bring everyone along on our transformation.

Myth: Those record profits go toward fueling corporate greed

Those record profits are reinvested in our company and our people. In 2022, GM had net income profits of $9.9 billion. In 2023, our capital spending will be $11-$12 billion. That’s not an aberration ― over the past ten years, our net income totaled $65 billion, and the amount we invested in that same period? $77 billion. That includes investments for our EV future, including our facilities in Detroit/Hamtramck and Orion in Michigan, Toledo and Defiance in Ohio and in Rochester, New York. It also includes significant investment for future internal combustion products in Flint, Michigan, Ft. Wayne, Indiana and Arlington, Texas. The reality is that our business is capital-intensive, and the auto company that doesn’t invest in its own future gets left behind.

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If we don’t continue to invest, we will lose ground — quickly. Our competitors across the country and around the world, most of whom are non-union, will waste no time seizing the opportunity we would be handing them.

Myth: GM doesn’t provide significant paid time off for its employees

We currently offer 16 to 19 paid holidays per year and have offered the addition of Juneteenth. (Paid holidays can vary due to an election year and where the Christmas holiday falls.) Roughly 80% of represented team members, with the exception of temporary employees and new hires, receive three to five weeks of vacation per year based on seniority. (New hires receive one week of vacation in their first year, and two weeks after the first year.)

Myth: GM isn’t addressing tiers

GM’s offer includes annual wage increases for new employees with progression to the full wage rate within four years. We have assembly and manufacturing jobs, we have warehousing jobs and we have supply jobs. Within these distinctly different businesses in our national contract, everyone is paid on the same wage structure.

Myth: GM employees lack retirement security

Our represented team receives extremely generous retirement benefits. Our latest offer to the UAW continues our unconditional 6.4% company 401(k) contribution for employees who are not eligible for pensions. An additional $2,600 contribution each year is provided as an investment toward medical expenses in retirement, a 25% increase over today. Those retirement benefits could grow to $1.7 million over a typical 33-year career when combined with our average employee contributions and historical investment returns in our plans.

The importance of moving forward

As the past has clearly shown, nobody wins in a strike. We have delivered a record offer. That is a fact. It rightly rewards our team members, while positioning the company for success in the future. Often in these situations, the clouds of rhetoric can obscure reality. I’m hoping to shed some light and clarity on this whole situation, one that I sincerely hope can be resolved quickly and fairly. That is what our team members, our communities, our customers and our country all deserve.

Mark Reuss is president of General Motors.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: UAW, Shawn Fain strike rhetoric problematic: GM president Mark Reuss