UAW president says GM wage, benefit proposal is ‘insulting’

The president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union slammed General Motors’s (GM) wage and benefit offer as “insulting” and warned the automaker that “the clock is ticking” as the union prepares to strike next week.

General Motors offered UAW employees a 10 percent wage hike in its proposal Thursday, one week after the union filed unfair labor practice charges against both General Motors and Stellantis for not bargaining in good faith and failing to put forward offers.

“After refusing to bargain in good faith for the past six weeks, only after having federal labor board charges filed against them, GM has come to the table with an insulting proposal that doesn’t come close to an equitable agreement for America’s autoworkers,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“GM either doesn’t care or isn’t listening when we say we need economic justice at GM by 11:59pm on September 14th,” Fain added. “The clock is ticking. Stop wasting our members’ time. Tick tock.”

UAW members voted late last month to strike against the Big Three automakers — General Motors, Stellantis and Ford — if they fail to reach a “fair deal” by the time their contract expires on Sept. 14.

Ford put forward its own proposal last week, suggesting a 9 percent wage increase, that Fain similarly said would “not only fail to meet our needs, it insults our very worth.” Stellantis is also reportedly planning to make an offer to UAW by the end of this week, according to Reuters.