Higher UAW wages will push Detroit 3 to find cost solutions: Tier 2 phaseout makes pacts 'more expensive'

摘要

General Motors and Ford Motor Co. will give signing bonuses totaling nearly $1 billion to hourly workers who narrowly ratified new labor contracts this month, or about $160 for every vehicle the companies are on pace to sell this year in the U.S. But the bonuses, pay increases and benefit improvements workers at GM and Ford are getting, partially reversing years of concessions, will have a negligible effect on the companies' bottom lines, analysts say. Even Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, whose labor costs are expected to rise nearly $2 billion over the life of the four-year contract, won't bear anything close to the heavy burdens of past UAW deals, particularly because retiree health care is no longer a factor.