Dive Brief:
- General Motors’ tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union includes almost $2 billion in new electric vehicle investments, the UAW said in a summary of the deal on Saturday.
- The automaker will invest $1.25 billion in its Lansing Grand River Assembly and Stamping plant in Michigan and $391 million in its Fairfax Assembly and Stamping plant in Kansas to assemble future EVs.
- GM will also invest $300 million in its Tonawanda Engine Plant in New York to build electric drive units for EVs. The UAW said the deal would create at least 150 jobs at GM’s Kokomo Operations plant in Indiana within 12 months of ratification.
Dive Insight:
The Detroit-based automaker had previously announced nearly $7.2 billion in additional EV manufacturing investments, including $4 billion for its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan and $2 billion for its Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee. GM had also planned to invest nearly $3.9 million in internal combustion engine facilities.
Altogether, the automaker plans to invest more than $13 billion in EV and ICE vehicle production in the U.S. in the coming years.
“GM is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in the U.S.,” GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement after announcing the deal Monday.
In a social media video on Saturday, UAW President Shawn Fain touted the new investments as a major win for autoworkers as the UAW gears up to unionize Tesla, Toyota and other nonunion automakers in the U.S.
“We know we have to secure our jobs in an electric vehicle future. We have to make sure that green jobs will be good jobs, and we have to stop the forces of corporate greed from making the EV transition a race to the bottom,” Fain said.
UAW-represented GM employees started voting on the tentative agreement this weekend after the union’s leaders gave the green light on Friday. UAW members employed by Ford Motor Co. began voting on the UAW-Ford deal last week.
