LG Energy Solution·GM US Battery JV Labor Union Tentatively Agrees to 30% Wage Increase

Ultium Cells employees are holding the first battery produced at the second factory and taking a commemorative photo. Photo by LG Energy Solution

The labor and management of Ultium Cells, a battery joint venture between LG Energy Solution and General Motors (GM), have tentatively agreed on a wage increase of 30% over three years.

According to the United Auto Workers (UAW) on the 10th (local time), the UAW announced in a statement that the union branch at the Ultium Cells battery manufacturing plant in Warren, Ohio, had tentatively agreed with management on this wage negotiation proposal.

The tentative agreement will be finalized after a vote by union members. Workers at the Ultium Cells Ohio plant joined the UAW in December 2022, shortly after the plant began operations, and have continuously demanded wage increases. Accordingly, both labor and management reached a mid-term wage negotiation agreement last August to increase wages by 25%.

Since then, the Ultium Cells labor and management have continued to discuss follow-up wage negotiations based on the sector-wide agreement reached between GM and the UAW following the simultaneous strike of the three major U.S. automakers in November last year. The UAW stated that if this negotiation result is implemented, the final wage level is expected to rise to about double the 2022 wage level.

LG Energy Solution and GM established the North American joint venture Ultium Cells and have been mass-producing batteries for GM electric vehicle models at the first plant in Warren, Ohio since the second half of 2022. The second plant in Tennessee began full-scale operations in April, and the third plant in Michigan is under construction with the goal of starting operations next year.