General Motor Co will be the first target of the United Auto Workers union to began talks with Detroit automakers, as the current four-year contract has been expiring on September 14, said the union last week.
In the midst of slowed down new vehicle sales in the United States and rising costs that automakers have been facing developing self-driving cars and electric vehicles, this year’s negotiations between automakers Ford Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and GM and the union would likely to be gather around by controversies.
And issues like job security, profit sharing policies, hiring of workers on temporary basis and increased costs to cover healthcare are seemed to be major points that could be problematic to be agreed upon by parties at opposite sides of the table.
Union has been particularly targeting on GM as in late last year the automaker announced to be closing five of its North American plants which provoked the anger among the union since then.
The automaker’s strategy drew much of the criticism not only by the different stakeholders and other associated players but also the U.S. President Donald Trump came criticizing the company’s that move, who time and again pushed GM and most recently, in late last month, said that the automaker should start its Chinese operation to be moved back to the United States.
In a statement, Gary Jones, President of UAW, said that union is prepared and completely ready to support its members, communities and the future of auto manufacturing in the country.
GM is expecting to have productive talks with the UAW on reaching to an agreement that will be beneficial in building strong future not only for its employees but also for the business, said the company in its statement.
The timing of the contracts is also crucial for the UAW as it come at a time when the union is also on the target of FBI that has been investigating a federal corruption case into the union, pressure of which is growing quickly.
