LORDSTOWN — Production workers at Ultium Cells would receive an immediate pay increase of $6 to $8 per hour should members of the United Auto Workers union ratify a tentative contract with General Motors, according to a highlighter of the agreement.

Upon ratification, the minimum production wage would be $26.91 per hour and go to $30.88 per hour over the course of the 4 1/2-year deal.

Ultium Cells is a joint venture between GM and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution to mass produce battery cells for electric vehicles. Its more than $2.3 billion plant in Lordstown — the first to launch production toward the end of 2022 — employs about 1,400 people.

Employees overwhelmingly voted to join the UAW in December. In August, Ultium workers, again by an overwhelming margin, ratified an agreement that increased the average salary by 25 percent.

In that agreement, employees hired after Jan. 1 who started at $16.50 per hour rose to $20 per hour once they have been at Ultium six months or 1,000 hours, whichever came first; and employees with more time are at $21 per hour, according to information provided by United Auto Workers Local 1112.

They also were to receive a payment of $3,000 to $7,000 based on hours worked.

Under the tentative UAW / GM agreement, they also would receive a $5,000 ratification bonus.

Minimum skilled-trades wages at Ultium Cells would be $31.80 upon ratification and rise to $36.49 per hour in September 2027, according to the highlighter.

Local 1112 members at the plant will vote on the UAW / GM master agreements Monday and Nov. 14. A local contract still needs to be negotiated.

Folding battery-plant workers into the national contracts between the UAW and Detroit automakers — GM, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis — was among the key victories by the union.

GM was the first to concede unionizing EV battery plants.

“We also brought another group of workers into our agreement who we told could never be brought in. After they said for months that it was impossible, Ultium Cells workers will now be under our national agreement,” Shawn Fain, UAW president, said Saturday in an address to members.

“The significance of this cannot be overstated. Right now, the future of our industry is being defined and employers like GM have used joint ventures to drive a race to the bottom,” Fain said. “These jobs at Ultium Cells are dangerous, difficult and pay low wages, but all of that comes to an end in this agreement.”

The agreement also would allow former Lordstown assembly plant workers the opportunity to come home and work at Ultium Cells.

If UAW members ratify the deal, the former small-car assembly plant employees working at the plant on Nov. 26, 2018, would have six months to apply to return and work at Ultium Cells, the highlighter states.

Those former GM Lordstown workers would keep their current wages, benefits and seniority.

The Ultium Cells factory is on state Route 45 immediately east of GM’s former assembly plant the automaker shut down in March 2019, ending more than 50 years of automaking prowess at the facility. About 1,500 people were working at the plant when it closed. Some chose to transfer to other GM facilities, others decided to retire and some decided to cut ties with GM and find work elsewhere.

GM announced in November 2018 the decision to idle the plant. The last vehicle made there was the Chevrolet Cruze.

rselak@tribtoday.com