Statement from UAW Vice President Mike Booth on Expansion of GM Special Attrition Program

“In our 2023 contract negotiations, we won an additional $50,000 for eligible GM workers who were ready to retire, as an additional boost in retirement security for our members who have given decades of their working lives to this company. It’s called the Special Attrition Program, or SAP. We wanted to make sure workers who are ready to retire get an additional bonus as recognition for their service to GM, and the many sacrifices made along the way. 

One difference between what we won at GM and what we won at Ford and Stellantis is that every GM worker who’s eligible to retire during the life of the agreement will have the opportunity to receive the $50,000 SAP, if they choose to do so; not just those members who were eligible upon ratification. But the size, scope, and timing of each phase of the SAP was to be negotiated.  

As you know, we negotiated our first phase earlier this year, and won SAP eligibility for around 748 members. Once we announced this first phase, many members spoke up and said that we needed to expand the eligibility in this first phase. 

We heard you. So we took it back to the company and said it wasn’t good enough. 

Today I am excited to announce that we have won SAPs for ALL 1,412 GM production workers who signed up for the SAP. Those workers will immediately be eligible to receive the $50,000 retirement bonus, with retirement dates effective June 1^st, July 1^st or August 1st. That’s a big win, and a big expansion from what GM was first willing to offer. 

But we still have work to do. We have not yet won immediate eligibility of all of the 545 skilled trades workers who have expressed interest in taking the SAP; only about 142 are immediately eligible in this first window. We’re still fighting to win an expansion on that number. At GM, we have a shortage of skilled trades workers, a problem which will require creative solutions on the company’s part, and an expansion of their apprenticeship programs. We’re going to continue to fight for our skilled trades members who want to retire. And to be clear, every single member who is eligible to retire will have the opportunity to receive the $50,000 SAP during the life of this contract, skilled trades and production.  

The other good news is that the next window is coming soon. The company has agreed to open the next SAP window in the 4^th quarter of 2024. 

We are hard at work on building on our contract victories, and intend to keep delivering for all UAW members at GM. 

In solidarity,

UAW Vice President Mike Booth 

 

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