General Motors' Ultium Cells Agrees To Boost Wages At Its Ohio Battery Plant

General Motors Company GM JV-owned Ultium Cells has agreed to immediately raise wages by $3 to $4 an hour at its battery plant in Ohio.

Ultium Cells is a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution.

The agreement with the Union Auto Workers (UAW) will also include thousands of dollars of back pay for hundreds of workers. 

Ultium workers will vote on whether to ratify the interim deal in the coming days. 

The interim deal follows months of negotiations and a public UAW campaign to win justice for electric vehicle workers at Ultium and across the country.

"But it is still far short of what these workers deserve for the level of skill their labor requires, the working conditions they must endure, and the incredible value they produce for this heavily taxpayer-subsidized employer," said UAW Vice President Mike Booth.

"We have been clear with Ultium: this wage increase is just the start."

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Ultium workers now make between roughly $20 and $25 an hour for production workers and $25 to $34.60 an hour for maintenance employees, reported CNBC.

Workers at Ultium Cells won their union in a vote of 710 to 16 in December 2022, becoming the first in the nation to successfully unionize at a large battery cell production plant.

Ultium Cells produces battery cells for GM's battery fleet and is expected to qualify for more than $1 billion a year in federal tax credits when it is running at full capacity.

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Price Action: GM shares are trading higher by 0.36% at $33.00 in premarket on the last check Friday.