What to know about the UAW and Stellantis deal to end strike

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The United Auto Workers and Stellantis have reached a tentative agreement to put an end to the 6-week-old standup strike that has had massive ramifications on the automaker's bottom line.

The UAW and Stellantis reached the tentative deal on Saturday, one day after FOX 2 learned that the maker of Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler had offered a wage increase of 25% over four years, matching Ford's offer.

The UAW said in a statement that the deal accomplishes the union's promise to deliver record contracts.

"Once again, we have achieved what just weeks ago we were told was impossible," said UAW President Shawn Fain. "At Stellantis in particular, we have not only secured a record contract, we have begun to turn the tide in the war on the American working class. Going into these negotiations, the company wanted to cut 5,000 jobs across Stellantis. Our Stand Up Strike changed that equation. Not only did we not lose those 5,000 jobs, we turned it all the way around. By the end of this agreement, Stellantis will be adding 5,000 jobs. We truly are saving the American dream."

The Stellantis deal mirrors one reached earlier this week with Ford. The union says the contract also saves jobs at a factory in Belvidere, Illinois, that Stellantis had planned to close.

With the tentative agreement in place, the union still must vote to ratify the deal.

Vice President Rich Boyer, who led the Stellantis talks, said the workforce will be doubled at the Toledo, Ohio, machining plant. The union, he said, won $19 billion worth of investment across the U.S.

Fain said Stellantis had proposed cutting 5,000 U.S. jobs, but the union's strike changed that to adding 5,000 jobs by the end of the contract.

In a statement, the UAW said the Stellantis agreement has gains worth more than four times the improvements in the 2019 contract with the UAW. Through April of 2028, a top-scale assembly plant worker's base wage will increase more than all the increases in the past 22 years.

Starting wages for new hires will rise 67% including cost-of-living adjustments to over $30 per hour, the union said. Temporary workers will get raises of more than 165%, while workers at parts centers will get an immediate 76% increase if the contract is ratified.

Like the Ford agreement, it will take just three years for new workers to get to the top of the assembly pay scale, the union said.

The union also won the right to strike over plant closures at Stellantis, and it can strike if the company doesn’t meet product and investment commitments, Fain said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.