GM Will Raise Entry-Level Wage by $2 to $3 Per Hour

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-17/gm-said-to-increase-entry-level-uaw-wage-by-2-to-3-an-hour-1-.html

General Motors Co. (GM) will increase entry-level pay by $2 to $3 an hour as part of a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with the United Auto Workers, said two people familiar with the accord.

Starting pay will increase to about $16 an hour from $14 and rise to about $19 an hour from a previous maximum of $16, said the people who asked not to be identified disclosing details before they have been presented to union members for ratification. UAW President Bob King had said getting those workers a middle-class lifestyle was his highest priority.

“This is a wage gain in an economy that is cratering in some places,” Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said in a telephone interview today. “It’s an important symbol.”

GM will also pay a record $5,000 signing bonus if a majority of the 48,500 hourly workers vote to ratify the accord, the people said. That would cost the Detroit-based automaker $242.5 million. The accord also includes new jobs and better profit-sharing, the union said. Ratification votes will probably be held within 10 days, GM said.

[bluestate10]

1. Sounds good. I particularly like the positive profit sharing change. nt

[pinto]

2. Kick

:kick:

[Historic NY]

3. Imagine they went from "Let them die " to a profit.

[chill_wind]

4. That's great news!

K & R.

[Glimmer of Hope]

5. Sounds like a good deal!

[NNN0LHI]

6. The sooner these guys begin making $28 dollars an hour again the better off we will all be

:thumbsup:

[TBF]

7. Finally some good news - K&R nt

[ljm2002]

8. Rare good news for the unions and working people...

...I hope it starts a trend, although I'm not expecting it.

If I ever do buy another car, though, GM will be at the top of the list.

[amborin]

9. kr but disgustingly low wages, barely more than the non-union transplants in the right to work sout

the GM bailout accomplished its main goal: complete the disempowerment of the UAW

[Honeycombe8]

10. Can GM afford that? GM just got out of a bucket of possible bankruptcy.

I don't want to see it sink again.