General Motors CEO Mary Barra said the automaker and the UAW have differences to work out when they begin negotiating a new four-year contract later this summer and will need to “problem solve” once at the bargaining table.
Barra made the comments during a wide-ranging interview on CNBC on Thursday night. When asked about union leaders’ claims that automakers have made record profits in recent years and need to reinvest that money in the workforce, Barra said that GM has shared its record profits with union members for years now and it has been reinvesting in factories.
Separately, Barra also said the automaker is open to more partnerships beyond the one she announced earlier in the day with Tesla to share in Tesla’s vast charging network and the existing partnership GM started in 2020 with America Honda Motor Co. to build affordable electric cars to go on sale starting in 2027.
Barra also said the automaker continues to search for a new global marketing director and once it finds one, it is open to restarting paid advertising on Twitter, which GM halted in October in protest after Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the social media company.
UAW members have ‘done quite well’ in profit sharing
In recent weeks, UAW President Shawn Fain and UAW Vice President of the GM Department Mike Booth have noted automakers’ significant profit margins and high executive compensation in recent years. They say it’s time for GM and others to share that with the workforce by ending wage tiers, ensuring job security and reestablishing cost-of-living allowances.
Last week, the UAW put out a scathing video on social media of Fain and Booth inside GM’s factory in Kokomo, Indiana, showing a largely vacant factory. Fain criticized GM for essentially idling the production of semiconductor components there and cutting jobs.
“It’s important that we actually get to the table and we start to problem solve,” Barra said on CNBC. “Of course, we have differences, but as you talk about record profits, one of the things that I’m very proud of is, we’ve shared that with our employees from a profit-sharing perspective, so, they’ve done quite well in participating in the success that they are important to.”
Barra commended GM’s hourly workforce for its response after the COVID-19 shutdown and said for that reason, Barra wants to “problem solve” and find a contract agreement that’s good for the company and employees.
“We need to continue to reinvest,” Barra said. “We’ve made some important announcements about reinvesting in these plants, because I think job security is very important. To do that, the company has to be successful, so we can develop new products that customers want to buy.”
More:‘Nothing left’: UAW releases video inside Indiana plant, blasts GM downsizing
This week, GM made three announcements about investing in gasoline-powered trucks, which fund GM’s transition to EVs. On Monday, GM said it will invest $1 billion in Flint Assembly and Flint Metal Center to build the next generation of the automaker’s gasoline-burning heavy duty pickups. On Tuesday, GM said it will invest CA$280 million ($208 million in U.S. dollars) to upgrade its Oshawa Assembly plant in Canada to build next generation full-size gasoline-powered pickups. On Thursday, GM said it will invest $500 million in its Arlington Assembly plant in Texas to upgrade the facility to build the next generation of full-size gasoline-powered SUVs.
GM is looking for ways to save money
Barra said GM is considering collaborations with rival automakers to gain cost efficiencies. For example, the collaboration with Tesla to share in its Supercharger Network starting next year, “nearly doubles the amount of chargers that our GM customers will have access to. Frankly, we think we can save up to $400 million in the original three-quarter of a billion dollars that we allocated to this, because we’ve been able to do it faster and more effectively,” she said.
She added that, “If there’s other opportunities to partner, we’re going to be very open to them, in addition to this collaboration with Tesla, we have a very important collaboration with Honda. I think being capital efficient in this environment, that will allow us to get the best EVs out to the market, is crucial in this transformation.”
GM has said it has a target to remove $2 billion in expenses by the end of next year. As the Free Press first reported in February, GM cut several hundred jobs from its global salaried workforce. In April, 5,000 salaried employees agreed to a voluntary separation package that GM said would help it achieve close to 50% of its $2 billion cost-cutting target this year alone and prevent further involuntary cuts. Then last month, as the Free Press reported, GM terminated “several hundred” contract employees who worked at its Global Technical Center in Warren as well as other locations to further shed costs.
‘It’s possible’ GM could restart its paid advertising on Twitter
In March, GM’s Global Marketing Chief Deborah Wahl retired. Since that time, Barra has been searching for a replacement.
When asked if the new charging agreement with Tesla changes GM’s stance on boycotting advertising on Musk’s Twitter, Barra said GM has been on Twitter offering customer service all along, but now “we’re in the process of reimagining marketing. We are in the market to bring in a new head of marketing. I think that’s a good question and will be one of my first questions when this new person joins the GM team, so, I definitely think it’s possible.”
More:GM tweeting has largely gone silent as Musk loses millions in ad dollars
Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.