The United Auto Workers union is pressing the Detroit car companies to give its factory workers a 40% pay hike in the next labor contract, an increase that would be the largest in recent memory, the Wall Street Journal reported. The union conveyed this demand to the automakers this week, along with a list of other items it plans to push for at the bargaining table. The UAW is negotiating new four-year labor agreements for about 150,000 hourly workers at General Motors, Ford Motor and Jeep-maker Stellantis. Currently, unionized factory workers at the Detroit car companies start at about $18 an hour. The top wage, achieved over a period of years, is about $32 an hour. The 40% pay hike would be a general increase over the life of the next four-year contract. It would be broken up into a 20% increase upon the contract’s ratification, and four additional 5% wage increases given each year.
