UAW reaches deal with GM, ending auto strike with big win for workers
The last domino has fallen, with UAW and GM reaching a deal to end the auto industry strike. Now, tentative deals have been met with all three auto companies, which means the strike is over.
The deal has not yet been confirmed by either GM or UAW, but it was first reported by Bloomberg and has been widely reported since. It comes just two days after GM workers walked out of the Cadillac Lyriq plant at Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee.
As a result, we have even fewer details than with the last deals with Ford and Stellantis. In both of those cases, UAW posted a video going over some details of the deal, but in this case, they have not yet posted a similar video.
Bloomberg reports that the deal is “broadly similar” to the first two deals. GM has the most unionized workers of the Big Three, and retirement benefits were particularly in focus, so we’ll have to see what other specifics come out of that deal when it’s revealed.
But the basic details likely include a 25% increase in pay for all workers – which is a larger raise than all combined wage raises between 2001-2022 – plus cost-of-living adjustments. These cost-of-living adjustments used to be part of union contracts but were given up during the economic downturn, which started in 2008 and took until now for the workers to get back.
One unique part of the GM deal that we already know about is that GM has agreed to bring all US GM joint-venture battery plants under the union master agreement. This represented a “leapfrog” in negotiations from GM, putting the company in front of others in terms of their offer to UAW, but then GM ended up being the last to come to a final agreement.
And batteries were an important win for UAW because in discussions over this strike, interviewers have repeatedly tried to get UAW President Shawn Fain to badmouth electric vehicles and blame them for wage or job problems, but Fain has never taken the bait. Instead, he has always insisted that the UAW is looking for a “just transition” to electric vehicles that ensures workers still get treated fairly as the industry is upended.
Previously, battery workers had been paid significantly less than other manufacturing workers, though UAW had made progress on that front even before the strike began.
The deal with Stellantis also included a boost to electric vehicles. UAW got Stellantis to promise to reopen a shuttered plant in Belvidere, Illinois, and further to commit to building a new battery factory at the same site, which should add approximately 1,000 battery jobs that previously had not been planned.
While we don’t know the details of this deal yet, the process to approve it is likely to be the same. The deal needs to be finalized by union leadership, who will then present it to all union members by publishing it online and via Facebook livestream. Then meetings will be held, and the deal will be voted on by each local chapter.
But, in previous deals, UAW has directed workers to go back to work right away once the tentative agreement has been reached in a show of good faith that everyone wants to end this strike quickly. Leadership is confident that these deals are good enough that they will be ratified by members when the time comes and that everyone is eager to get back to work.
Unions have been having a bit of a moment in the US in the last couple of years as frustrated workers have started demanding more. The US has seen upticks in union membership, strike activity, and union popularity, with unions reaching their highest approval rating since polls began in 1965.
Several successful strikes have happened across the US economy, and UAW seems to want to bring this momentum forward into the future. To this end, UAW has invited other unions in America to align contract expirations around the same time frame, so as to inspire broader labor action.
The contracts UAW negotiated are expected to last 4.5 years until April 30, 2028. This is the day before May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, a day that commemorates the early labor movement in the US, but is more celebrated overseas than it is here. It seems clear that UAW is targeting much bigger labor action across the economy in the future.
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Lucid’s electric minivan can outsprint the Chevy Corvette Z06, and it has more interior space than a Ford Explorer. Is the Lucid Gravity really the “ultimate uncompromising SUV?”
Lucid Gravity SUV is faster than a Corvette Z06
Lucid’s electric SUV is impressive inside and out. The Gravity provides up to 450 miles of driving range, ultra-fast charging (200 miles in under 11 mins), and it even offers up to 120 cubic feet of cargo space. That’s more than the Ford Explorer (87.8 cu ft).
It’s also faster than most sports cars. The Grand Touring trim has up to 845 hp, good for a 0 to 60 mph sprint in just 3.4 seconds, but the Dream Edition takes it to another level.
Powered by dual electric motors, the Lucid Gravity Dream Edition boasts 1,070 hp. To see how Lucid’s minivan stacks up against the competition, Car and Driver nabbed one for testing.
On the test track, the Lucid’s minivan covered a quarter-mile in just 10.6 secs, beating a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 to 150 mph by nearly three seconds.
According to Car and Driver, the Gravity didn’t just impress in the quarter-mile, “it was a beast in every acceleration metric.” Lucid’s SUV hit 30 mph in 1.4 seconds, 70 mph in 3.7 secs, and topped 100 mph in just 5.9 seconds.
Dave Vanderwerp, the testing director who took the Gravity for a spin, said the electric SUV “gets a sort of second wave of thrust starting around 60 mph.”
With a quarter-mile of just 10.6 secs, Lucid’s Gravity is the fastest SUV they have ever tested, beating out the Rivian Tri-Motor Max (11.1 secs), BMW iX M60 (11.5 secs), and Mercedes-AMG EQE53 SUV.
Although the Rivian’s 850 hp R1S Tri-Motor beat the Gravity to 60 mph, Lucid’s SUV sprinted ahead in the quarter-mile, traveling nearly 20 mph faster.
It was also faster than gas-powered super SUVs, including the Lamborghini Urus Performante (11.2 secs) and Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT (11.2 secs). However, they have yet to test a Tesla Model X Plaid, so that could change the game.
In what it called the “1,000 hp mom missiles” drag race, Hagerty recently pitted the Gravity Dream Edition against the Audi RS Q8 Performance, Range Rover Sport SV, Porsche Macan Turbo Electric, Rivian R1S Quad, and Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid.
The result was a three-way tie between Lucid’s Gravity, the Porsche Panamera Turbo, and Rivian R1S Quad hitting the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds.
The Lucid Gravity is available to order starting at $94,900 in the US. Later this year, Lucid is launching the lower-priced Touring trim, priced from $79,900.
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Solar provided over 11% of total US electrical generation in May, while wind + solar produced over one-fifth, and the mix of all renewable energy sources generated nearly 30%, according to data just released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Solar continues to set new records
Solar continues to be the fastest-growing source of US electricity, according to EIA’s latest “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through May 31, 2025), which the SUN DAY Campaign reviewed.
In May alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (>1-megawatt (MW)) increased by 33.3% year-over-year, while “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV increased by 8.9%. Combined, they grew by 26.4% and provided over 11% of US electrical output during the month.
For the first time ever, the mix of utility-scale and small-scale solar produced more electricity than wind: solar – 38,965 gigawatt-hours (GWh); wind – 36,907-GWh.
Moreover, utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 39.8% while that from small-scale systems rose by 10.7% during the first five months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by 31.1% and was nearly 8.4% of total US electrical generation for January to May – up from 6.6% a year earlier.
Solar-generated electricity easily surpassed the output of US hydropower plants (6.1%). Solar now produces more electricity than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined.
Wind is also on the rise in 2025
Wind produced 12.2% of US electricity in the first five months of 2025. Its output was 3.9% greater than the year before, almost double that produced by hydropower.
During the first five months of 2025, electrical generation by wind + utility-scale and small-scale solar provided 20.5% of the US total, up from 18.7% during the first five months of 2024. Solar + wind accounted for nearly 21.5% of US electrical output in May alone.
During the first five months of this year, wind and solar provided 26.2% more electricity than coal, and 15.4% more than US nuclear power plants. In May alone, the disparity increased further when solar + wind outproduced coal and nuclear power by 55.7% and 22.1%, respectively.
All renewables produced almost 30% in May
The mix of all renewables – wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, geothermal – produced 9.7% more electricity in January to May than they did a year ago (7.6% more in May alone) and provided 28.1% of total US electricity production compared to 26.5% 12 months earlier.
Electrical generation by all renewables in May alone provided 29.7% of total US electrical generation. Renewables’ share of electrical generation is now second only to that of natural gas, whose electrical output actually dropped by 5.9% during the month.
“Solar and wind continue to grow, set new records, and outproduce both coal and nuclear power,” said Ken Bossong, the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director. “Consequently, the ongoing Republican assault against renewables is not only misguided and illogical but also a good example of shooting oneself in the foot.”
Read more: FERC: Solar + wind made up 96% of new US power generating capacity in first third of 2025
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Environment
Podcast: Tesla’s disturbing earnings, self-driving challenge, solid state batteries, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Tesla’s disturbing earnings, a new self-driving challenge, solid-state batteries, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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