Given all the information, explain why the following components of the new agreement are predictable outcomes.
a. The new agreement gives a $5,000 signing bonus to eligible UAW-represented GM employees, which could be worth as much as $242.5 million.
b. Entry-level assembly workers will be paid $2 to $3 more per hour, and more experienced Tier-2 employees (Tier 2 is the name for the tier of workers who were hired after the lower wage level for new hires was implemented) will see wages hiked to between $16 and $19 per hour.
c. The UAW negotiated a new profit-sharing formula based on GM’s North American profits. Formerly profit-sharing checks issued to employees were based on a more global profit measure.
d. GM agreed to rehire laid-off workers, transfer jobs from overseas back to the United States, and give buyout offers to skilled trade workers for whom there are no longer job openings.
e. GM agreed to restart production at an idled plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and to start assembly of new products at factories in Michigan.