General Motors in Detroit. (Photo by Adelle Loiselle.)General Motors in Detroit. (Photo by Adelle Loiselle.)
Windsor

Tentative deal reached between GM, UAW

Picket lines may soon be coming down at General Motors facilities in the United States.

The United Auto Workers union announced Wednesday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the Detroit-based automaker. If ratified, the agreement will end a four-week strike by GM's American-based unionized workers. Terms of the deal have not been released.

General Motors confirmed an agreement had been reached via a two-sentence statement on its corporate website.

"We can confirm the UAW’s statement regarding a proposed tentative agreement," the statement read. "Additional details will be provided at the appropriate time."

The 48,000 GM employees represented by the UAW across the U.S. have been on the picket line since September 16 after their collective bargaining agreement expired two days prior. About 17,000 of those employees are based in Michigan, according to the Detroit News.

It was not readily clear how many supplier jobs in southwestern Ontario have been affected by the walkout, but Bloomberg Canada reports that over 5,000 people have been on temporary layoff as a result of the U.S. strike. The Oshawa Assembly plant, slated for closure by the automaker, was hit hardest with 2,100 workers on furlough. Two-thirds of the workforce at GM's St. Catharines Engine Plant was also laid off. There were no strike-related layoffs at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll.

The next step in the process is a meeting of the UAW's GM National Council Thursday in Detroit, at which the agreement will be examined and a decision made on whether to reject it, accept and continue pickets until the rank-and-file ratifies it, or accept it and direct the workers to return to their jobs immediately pending a vote.

The UAW has asked striking workers to continue their pickets until after the council has met.

https://twitter.com/UAW/status/1184515491748028416

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