(This Oct. 12 story corrects paragraph 7 to show details of contract offer were posted on an ABC-TV affiliate Facebook page by a commenter, not by the station itself)
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers union said Saturday it will boost strike pay for 48,000 hourly workers at General Motors Co (GM.N) by $25 a week to $275 as a strike against the largest U.S. automaker nears the end of its fourth week.
Talks were continuing late Saturday afternoon to try to resolve the longest nationwide strike at GM since 1970, both sides said.
The UAW also said it would allow members striking to take on part-time jobs without reducing their strike pay – as long as they perform picket-line duties. The strike pay hike was previously set to increase on Jan. 1.
Also Saturday, details of a revised GM contract offer emerged, with a person briefed on the matter confirming that GM had boosted its proposed ratification bonus by $1,000 to $9,000.
GM has proposed 3% pay raises in the second and fourth year of the four-year-contract and 3% and 4% lump sum payments in the first and fourth year respectively, the person confirmed. The company would agree to make temporary workers permanent with three years of service and they would get a $3,000 bonus upon ratification of the contract.
About 7% of GM’s hourly workforce are temporary workers.
Details of the revised GM contract offer made earlier this week first emerged in a screen shot posted on the Facebook page of an ABC-TV affiliate in Flint, Michigan by a commenter. It’s
