Updated 1/10/20

T

he 40-day strike against General Motors ended with an agreement for temporary workers to be converted to full-time status after three years of continuous employment.

On Thursday, the GM Spring Hill Manufacturing Facility and United Auto Workers Local 1853 agreed to convert 157 temporary workers to permanent status effective Feb. 3.

Under the collective bargaining agreement ratified in October, GM agreed to absorb temporary workers, but none of the temporary workers in Spring Hill had three consecutive years of service because of layoffs in 2017 and 2018.

The deal between GM and Local 1853 allows the plant to begin bringing in new temporary workers. The company has started taking applications, seeking 154 employees for those positions. The starting pay likely will be $15.78 an hour.

Many of the temporary workers hired Thursday have been working seven days a week, sometimes up to 12 hours a day.

GM in Spring Hill lost 250 employees to an early-retirement incentive offered through the new bargaining agreement. They received retirement incentives worth up to $60,000.