After months of negotiations and several hourly extensions beyond the contract expiration date, the UAW and Fiat Chrysler reached a tentative agreement on September 15, 2015. While the full terms of the tentative agreement were not immediately disclosed, during a joint press conference with UAW President Dennis Williams and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, Williams noted that he believes the agreement is balanced and that the agreement addresses the following three goals the UAW set going into the negotiations:
- start giving a path to the membership;
- reward members for their sacrifices in recent years; and
- deal with the escalating costs of healthcare.
The announcement of the tentative agreement is far from the end of the negotiation process. A series of votes within the UAW will need to take place ending with the vote of the membership whether or not to ratify the tentative agreement. Thus, the union members at Fiat Chrysler will still get the last word.
Despite the tentative agreement reached with Fiat Chrysler, contract negotiations continue at GM and Ford. Both GM and Ford have agreed to indefinite extensions of the expired contracts as the negotiations continue.
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