Strike Ends: GM, Union Agree on Contract

by Jordan Yerman | February 27, 2008 at 07:06 am

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A two-day nationwide strike by General Motors employees is now over, and the workers are getting a new healthcare deal. It's a compromise for both sides, though, as GM workers are foregoing pay raises and agreeing to lower entry-level wages for new hires in exchange for job-security assurances. This speaks to the state of the economy when just having a job in the first place is not taken for granted.

- General Motors and the United Auto Workers agreed on a new four-year contract early Wednesday morning, ending a two-day nationwide strike and sending workers back to assembly lines in the afternoon.

The deal between the nation's biggest automaker and one of the largest unions was designed to bring both sides out of the past century and into this one, where each faces intense global competition. The contract may be a template not only for the rest of the auto industry but also for other large-scale employers, such as telecommunications companies, according to economists.

All is not well, though, as American Axle, a major supplier for GM, is facing a strike of its own as labor talks collapsed late last night:

Workers at American Axle plants in Michigan and New York walked off the job
just after midnight Tuesday after labor talks between the United Auto Workers
and the company broke off over a new labor agreement. The previous pact expired
late Monday night.

American Axle is the driveline supplier for GM's full-size pickup trucks and
SUVs and the auto maker is the supplier's largest customer.

So far, overall production hasn't been affected, though the strike is only hours old.

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