The UAW is set to authorize increased strike pay to $275 per week following a vote Saturday morning.
According to the UAW, the increase will be applied to "all UAW members on strike and allow members striking at General Motors and Aramark to take on part-time jobs without reducing their strike pay – as long as they perform their picket duty."
This comes on the heels of the UAW announcing Friday it submitted a counter proposal to General Motors. If the company accepts it, a tentative deal would be reached.
Striking workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant said Saturday they're cautiously optimistic.
"I don't see this going on for too much longer. I just think everybody just wants to get back to work," said William Sharpe, a UAW-GM worker on the picket-line.
Increased payment and authorization for part-time work will go into effect Sunday, Oct. 13.
“UAW members and their families are sacrificing for all of us,” said Gary Jones, President of the UAW. “We are all standing together for our future. This action reflects the UAW commitment and solidarity to all of our members and their families who are taking a courageous stand together to protect our middle-class way of life.”
"I've got a wife and five children, so an extra $25 that's going in the tank, that will get me places," said Sharpe.
- RELATED: 'Can you live on $250 a week?': UAW workers push for higher strike pay amid contract negotiations
The initial increase in strike pay was scheduled to go up from $250 to $275 on Jan. 1, 2020.
This decision provides all striking UAW members with an advanced increase in strike pay that was initially slated to increase from $250 to $275 on January 1, 2020, after action by the UAW’s International Executive Board prior to the 2019 Special Bargaining Convention.
Previously part-time work that exceeded the $250 strike pay would void payment of UAW member strike pay benefit. The decision made during the executive board’s special session now allows all members on strike with GM and Aramark to receive both increased strike pay and take on part-time work that provides more than $250 per week as long as picket duty is performed.
Read the full UAW statement here .
