Union head: No new wage level

Associated Press

DETROIT

The leader of the United Auto Workers union has rejected a new level of lower wages for members who make auto parts ahead of contract talks with automakers that start in the summer.

There have been reports that General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. may propose a new pay level that is lower than the two existing groups.

Speaking Wednesday at the union’s national bargaining convention in Detroit, which sets the agenda for the union’s bargaining efforts with the auto companies and other industries, President Dennis Williams said the UAW already has too many tiers of lower wages.

Williams is under pressure from union members to end a second level of wages that starts around $15 per hour, about half the $28 per hour made by longtime workers.

His rejection of a lower pay level comes as the current contract between Fiat Chrysler, GM, Ford and the UAW, which represents about 137,000 workers at the three companies, expires in September.

This year’s contract talks are the first to come after the auto industry fully recovered from the Great Recession, and could be contentious as the union seeks a slice of the industry’s billions of dollars in profits. Auto sales are expected to hit nearly 17 million in the U.S. this year, close to historic highs. They fell as low as 10.4 million in 2009.