On November 20, the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced that members had approved new contracts with General Motors (GM), Stellantis, and Ford by 64 percent following the union’s six-week strike against the Big Three US automakers.

The contracts at the three automakers represent historic victories. Across all three companies, the UAW achieved a 25 percent increase in base wages over the four-and-a-half-year contract span — more than workers had won over the previous twenty years — while also eliminating wage tiers and reinstating cost-of-living increases that had been given up during the Great Recession.

Importantly, the union also won the right to strike against plant closures. Stellantis and General Motors, meanwhile, have agreed to bring their joint-venture battery plants under the union’s master agreement, ensuring that EV workers receive wages and benefits comparable to workers in traditional auto manufacturing. The UAW also forced Stellantis to agree to reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Belvidere, Illinois, that it had shuttered earlier this year. And at GM and Stellantis, the union additionally won the right to strike if the automakers break promises not to outsource certain aspects of production, or if they violate product and investment commitments at various plants.